No Strings Attached
by A.Pink.Pen
Summary: Both finally in college, Ezra Fitz suggests a "no strings" relationship with his childhood best friend, Aria Montgomery. Is there really a future in that? Or are they just going to be stuck with memories of their past? AU Ezria.
1. No Strings Attached

**A/N: Just something that popped into my head after reading too many Rory/Logan Gilmore Girls fanfictions, and it wouldn't leave me alone. I know the whole "Aria and Ezra being friends since childhood" storyline has turned up multiple times in other stories, but I'll try my best to make this different.  
I don't see this being very long, maybe a three-shot max, but, we'll see where this takes us.  
If you like it, please review. It always makes my day reading your reviews. Enjoy! (:  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the words.

* * *

_"No strings."_

"Excuse me?"

Aria Montgomery placed her hands on Ezra Fitz's chest, forcefully pushing him backwards away from her. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and crossed her arms, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

"If we're going to do this, there's not going to be any strings," Ezra repeated, mimicking her movements and crossing his own arms across his chest. He knew this was going to end up getting a reaction out of her. It didn't surprise him in the least bit, considering he had known Aria since she was seven years old.

* * *

_Ezra was eleven and he had just arrived in Rosewood from New York City with his parents and his younger brother Wesley when Aria very literally, on a pink bike with silver streamers hanging off the handlebars, rode into his life. He remembered seeing Alison, ever the Queen Bee, leading the pack on her own bike, with Emily and Hanna behind her, Spencer and Aria pulling up the back. He had rolled his eyes as Alison led them up his driveway and hopped off, extending her hand and introducing herself and the rest of the girls. While his parents spoke to Alison, no doubt impressed by her assertiveness, and his brother spoke to Emily, Hanna and Spencer (he had heard Spencer provoke him with a challenge to race, and he had said something about how once his bike was out of the U-Haul, he would race them and prove that she was wrong, that girls were slow and could never beat boys), he had quickly taken to the quiet girl who had opted out of conversations and instead had settled herself on the curb of their street, reading a book by herself._

_He had plopped down next to her and snuck a peek at what she was reading, __The Giver__, and let out a whistle. "You're reading __The Giver__? But you're, like, six!" he had exclaimed, much to her chagrin._

_"I'm seven and a half, thank you very much!" she huffed, turning back to her book. _

_Ezra snorted, "Sorry I was wrong. I mean, it's not my fault. You're so little." Aria turned to him and glared, obviously unhappy that he was invading her reading time and insulting her at the same time. "It's just that I'm eleven, and that book's on my list of required reading for this summer," he continued. "I just finished it. Isn't it crazy when-"_

_"Don't spoil it for me!" Aria screeched at the exact moment the rest of the girls arrived, obviously done meeting the new neighbors. She narrowed her eyes at him and got back on her bike, quickly riding away from him. It was in that moment that Ezra Fitz knew him and Aria Montgomery, that precocious seven and a half year old, were going to get along just fine.  
_

* * *

"Ezraaaaaa? Hello? Anyone there?" Aria asked, waving her hand in front of his face. She watched as he blinked a few times, returning back from wherever it was he had gone off to. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep from laughing, determined to prove to him that she could stay mad at him for more than twenty seconds.

"Sorry, where were we?" he asked, clearing his throat and finding his voice.

"You said we weren't going to have any strings. What does that even mean?!" she asked, throwing her hands up in the air. She let out a groan of frustration before turning away from from him and sinking down onto his couch, the one he had taken from his parents home when he had moved out and into his apartment for college.

He knew that when she was angry, she was _furious, _so he knew better than to approach her right away. "It means you're free to see whomever you want, and I'm free to see whomever I want." His matter-of-fact tone made her want to punch him.

"I _know_ what it means to not have any strings," she spat. "But what does it mean that you want to be 'stringless'?" She dropped her head into her hands, "Am I not enough for you? That you have to see someone else, too?" she asked quietly.

"No, of course not," Ezra said, taking a seat next to her on his couch, just as he had done so many times before.

* * *

_"Are they still in there?" thirteen year old Aria asked with a roll of her eyes, tucking her legs under her and pulling a blanket over her legs. "They've been talking for hours. You think they'd run out of things to talk about after spending all day with each other at work."_

_"Aria, they're all at Hollis to work. Our parents are professors with students to teach. It's not as if they're just having fun and partying it up over there," Ezra said with a laugh. "Besides, you should be used to this by now. You know our parents do this every week at dinner."_

_"Whatever," Aria replied with another eye roll, her new favorite move to do since she had turned thirteen and could now be officially considered a 'teen'. "What movie is it tonight?"_

_"You choose, I'll go make popcorn," Ezra said before disappearing into the kitchen. Aria reached for the remote and started flipping through the channels__, finally coming across a movie she wanted to watch._

_"Again? We watched this last week!" Ezra moaned when he returned to his living room, dropping onto the couch next to Aria and placing the bowl carefully on his lap before reaching for the remote._

_Aria swatted his hand away, "You said I could choose the movie, and I choose this one," she said with an air of finality, reaching into the bowl for a handful of popcorn. _

_Ezra sighed in resignation and leaned back into the couch, "Fine." He saw a smile of triumph play on Aria's lips, and she pulled the blanket higher over her shoulder, leaving one hand free to grab more popcorn, of course, and snuggled into Ezra's side, leaning her head onto his shoulder. And that was the position their parents had found them in every night, once a week after dinner, over the course of the last five years and for the next five years afterwards_.

* * *

"I can't do this right now," Aria said, abruptly standing up. She grabbed her purse and jacket and headed for the door. "I'll talk to you later," she said, not even bothering to turn and acknowledge him. Aria opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, leaving Ezra on the couch with a cold space next to him where she used to be.

He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid, so idiotic for suggesting a "no strings" kind of relationship when, in reality, all he really wanted was to finally be able to call his best friend his girlfriend. He picked up a pillow and threw it against the wall in frustration before throwing his head backwards against the couch. He really screwed up this time.


	2. Challenge Accepted

**A/N: This turned out FAR more humorous than I intended it to be, but I definitely had fun writing it. HAHA. For the record, this chapter and the next are very flashback heavy, but they really help paint Aria and Ezra's relationship leading up to their current state.  
Thank you all for your support with this story, for some reason, I honestly didn't expect it to be so well-recieved! So, if you like it, please review! I'd love to know what you guys think.  
****Enjoy!  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Hanna asked as Aria made her way to their table in the dining hall. Emily and Spencer were already sitting there with their food, staring at her expectantly, excited at the fact that Aria had finally decided to make her move and tell Ezra how she felt. It was about damn time.

* * *

_Ever since the Fitzs had moved into Rosewood, the girls immediately welcomed Ezra and Wesley into their group. In the beginning, it had always been the eight of them, Aria's brother Mike included. They loved spending their afternoons after school riding around the neighborhood to the local park (it had taken years, but Wesley had finally given in and admitted that maybe girls could ride just as fast as boys could), spending summers together with all their families camping in the Hastings' cabin, working on homework in the Marin kitchen, and having movie nights at the Montgomery's. _

_As they got older, not much had changed between the eight friends. The eight of them still went riding around Rosewood, but now instead of taking their bikes to the park, they took Ezra and Wesley's SUV into town for ice cream. And yes, they still had movie nights at the Montgomery's, albeit now they often brought significant others. However, the one thing that had definitely changed was the connection between Aria and Ezra._

_Aria and Ezra often spent more time together, alone, just the two of them, watching old movies, reading novels and scribbling little notes and ideas to each other in the margins before trading, then meeting for coffee to discuss. Their three and a half year age difference was never a problem to anyone, and, truth be told, Aria often acted older than Ezra did anyway._

_So when fourteen year old Aria confided in her four best friends that she was secretly in love with a Fitz, they immediately knew it wasn't the younger one she was talking about, but instead the elder one. The eighteen year old who had recently left for Hollis, leaving Aria wondering what she was ever going to do without her closest friend. Wesley tried to fill in the gap he knew his brother had left in her life, but it was no use, they were just too different. Not that they didn't enjoy each other's company, but Wesley knew he was no Ezra, and there was just no use trying to be him. _

_Instead, for the next few years, Aria threw herself into her schoolwork, making sure she kept her grades up so that she could attend her number one choice school- Hollis. She also made sure to keep up with her social life, of course, spending all her free time with the girls and flitting from guy to guy, going on date after date, but never really finding that one special connection that could make her commit to a serious relationship. She argued that she had a bad habit of choosing horrible guys, but everyone knew that the only reason she didn't have a serious boyfriend was because that special connection she was looking for, the only _guy_ she was really waiting for, was the one who made sure he called her every week without fail, on their parents' dinner night, and would stay on the phone and keep her company until they fell asleep, their TVs synchronized to the same movie even though they were more than a few miles apart._

* * *

"It went horribly," Aria grumbled, dropping her tray to the table and sinking into her seat. She pushed away her food and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them. "He told me he wanted a 'no strings' kind of relationship," she mumbled into the table.

"Doesn't surprise me," Alison replied with a flip of her hair, approaching the table with her own tray in hand. "College guys never want real relationships. All they want is to sleep around and have fun." She sat down at the head of the table and began unwrapping her ham and cheese sandwich, oblivious to the three pairs of eyes staring at her, silently telling her that was _definitely_ the wrong thing to say.

"Don't listen to her," Spencer said, shooting Alison another look telling her to be quiet, dismissing her off with a wave. "We know Ezra, we know he's not like 'other college guys'. He wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you."

"Yeah," Hanna nodded in agreement. "Are you sure he said he wanted 'no strings'? Maybe you misheard and he had said he _wanted_ strings? So, he could be like your little puppet or something kinky like- _OUCH!" _she yelped as Emily kicked her under the table.

"He specifically said he wanted 'no strings'. I would've recorded it for you guys to listen to had I known this would happen," Aria snapped sarcastically, finally raising her head and running her fingers through her hair.

"But, like Spencer said, we know Ezra. He wouldn't suggest something unless it was for your own good..." Emily's reasoning trailed off.

The four girls watched as Aria's back suddenly straightened, her face hardening, a wicked glint appearing in her eye.

"Uh oh."

"Aria, we know that look."

"What are you planning?" They knew that when someone challenged Aria, she faced it head on and gave it her all. Especially when it was a certain Mr. Ezra Fitz doing the challenging.

* * *

_The eight friends sat__ closely together__ in a circle in the Montgomery living room, situated around an empty beer bottle__ in the middle of their circle__. The parents were all out for the night, deciding__ to go out of town and have a __group date a__t some__ concert in __Philadelphia, leaving all the kids to fend for themselves for the first time. They were all fifteen, after all, except for Mike who was thirteen, and all old enough to care for themselves for one night. Besides, Ezra would be there, and approaching nineteen, they knew he would be the responsible adult figure, keeping the youngsters in check. _

_"Have fun!" the parents had said as they left the Montgomery house, and 'have fun' was exactly what the kids were going to do. Especially with everyone loosened up, and taking a few more risks, from the beers Alison managed to sneak away from her older brother Jason._

_"Okay, okay, truth!" Emily said as the bottle stopped on her, much to the dismay of everyone in the circle. "What? I've done enough dares for the night!" she exclaimed as everyone booed, flinging a pillow from behind her towards Mike, who had started the booing. _

_"Fine," Mike said, rubbing his hands together and raising his eyebrows at Wesley, almost as if they shared a secret. "Have you ever had romantic feelings for anyone in this circle?"_

_There were a chorus of "ooooooh"s as Emily blushed bright red, looking down at her lap. She mumbled something incoherently, but everyone could clearly read what her lips had said. "Excuse me, what was that?" Mike taunted, leaning in, smiling widely. _

_"Yes, okay! I've had romantic feelings for someone in this circle," Emily admitted, grabbing another pillow from behind her and burying her head in it. Mike and Wesley high-fived as everyone laughed, Alison rubbing Emily's shoulder comfortingly. "I can't believe I just admitted that!" Emily muttered into the pillow._

_"Don't worry, you can have your revenge now," Alison reminded her, and Emily nodded, reaching forward to spin the bottle, not even bothering to lift her head from her pillow. _

_"Well, well, finally it stops on Aria!" Spencer exclaimed. Aria had gotten lucky with this game of truth or dare, as this particular bottle seemed to dislike (or like, depending on how you looked at it) her, and refused to ever actually land on her. Spencer smiled triumphantly, "You better choose dare, or you're not allowed to play with us ever again!"_

_Aria snickered, "Spencer, what are you, six? Withholding playtime with friends if I don't choose dare?" She shook her head, "Fine. Dare."_

_Immediately, she knew it would be a decision she would regret. She saw the look in the girls' eyes, actually, she saw the look in _everyone's _eyes, save for Ezra's. "Guys, what are you planning?"_

_Emily spoke clearly, her voice ringing in Aria's ears. "I-," she stopped, gesturing to everyone in the circle, "No, _we_, dare you to kiss Ezra." _

_Aria's eyes widened in shock and her face went pale, listening as Ezra, sitting next to her, choked on the beer he was sipping. "No, Em, please don't make me do this!" she whispered, shaking her head furiously. "Please, please, please, please, please!"_

_"Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!" everyone chanted, clapping in beat with the syllables. The voices got louder with each passing second that she didn't move. Her head was starting to pound, and she knew it was probably had to do with the beer she had consumed earlier that night, but the embarrassment she was feeling right at that moment could probably account for a good part of the reason, too._

_She glared at her so called 'friends' and turned to Ezra, "We don't have to do this." _

_She watched as Ezra, probably tipsy off of a few too many beers himself, took a swig from his bottle and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You scared, Montgomery?" He smirked. She hated that smirk about as much as she loved it. _

_"Of you? Never," she returned his smirk. "Bring it, Fitz." What the heck, he wouldn't remember this in the morning, anyway._

_She looped her arm around his neck, tangling her hand in his hair, and pulled him in quickly, her lips roughly landing on his. She felt him relax immediately, and she nearly forgot that this had been a dare when she felt herself sigh into his mouth. He tasted like beer and possibilities. _

_It took a few seconds, but she eventually came to her senses, smiling into his lips as she pulled away. Ezra still had his eyes closed, exhaling heavily as she leaned back in and whispered in his ear, "How's that for a dare?" and pushed him back forcefully against the couch, laughing as the back of his head hit the cushion hard, his eyes finally snapping open from the impact. _

_"So, it's my turn, right?" Aria asked, leaning forward and taking the bottle in her hand, spinning it lightly, smiling to herself as everyone stared at her with their jaws dropped. She had won that challenge, all right._

* * *

"Ezra wants a 'no strings' relationship? He wants me to see whomever I want, while he sees whomever he wants? Well, if that's how he wants it, that's how he's going to get it," Aria grinned, picking up a french fry and popping it into her mouth.

"Good girl," Alison smiled proudly, raising her glass of water and tipping it towards Aria to clink with her own.

"Challenge accepted."

* * *

**A quick note: In response to the review literaturefrenzy23 left, you'll find out why Ezra wants no strings later in the story. It'll all make sense. Just keep in mind, like Spencer and Emily say, Ezra wouldn't do anything that would intentionally hurt Aria and always has her best intentions at heart. *hint hint***


	3. Just Another Day

**A/N: Fair warning, this chapter is Ezria flashback overload. Get ready. PS, when you get to that particular part in this chapter where a certain song is mentioned, I recommend playing it in the background while reading that scene. Trust me, it's worth it. You'll see what I mean when you get to it.  
****Enjoy, and please keep the reviews coming, I always love reading them all! (:  
****- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words. I especially don't own the song.

* * *

"Mind if I sit here?" Aria looked up from her textbook and squinted towards the source of the voice, the bright midday sunshine streaming into her line of vision as she squinted, trying to make out the figure in front of her.

"No, of course, go ahead," she said, pulling out her earphones and gesturing to the empty seat opposite her at the table. She tilted her head in recognition as she was finally able to see the face of the guy who sat down across from her. "Hey, you're in my Intro to British Literature class, right? With Professor Bailey? I think I've seen you before in my discussion."

"Yeah, I am," he replied with a smile.

Aria extended her hand out, "I'm Aria. Aria Montgomery."

"Noel Kahn," the guy said, taking her hand in his and giving it a strong shake. "Nice to meet you." He let go of her hand and opened up his backpack, pulling out a familiar thick textbook, much like the one she had been studying moments before. "Sorry to bother you, it's just that all the other tables were taken, and you kind of looked familiar, so it seemed like a safer bet to ask if I could sit with you."

"Oh, don't worry about it! It's not a problem at all," Aria replied, genuinely happy to have someone, and not just her iced coffee, to keep her company.

It was a beautiful spring day, one of those bright, cloudless, sunny days that were always best spent outside kicking back with friends. There was a certain person she had in mind that she would've loved to spend today with, sadly they hadn't spoken since "the suggestion" last week. Which was unfortunate, because they always spent days like this together.

* * *

_"I could spend forever out here," Aria sighed, stretching out her legs and propping herself up with her elbows. She took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of fresh grass and crisp, clean air- the quintessential summertime scent. She watched carefully as Ezra emptied out the contents of their picnic basket onto their blanket, making sure that he didn't accidentally spill anything__, before lifting her head up towards the sun. "What made you decide to have a picnic, anyway?"_

_She could almost see him shrugging his shoulders, even though her eyes were closed. "Don't know. I guess the weather was just so great today, it reminded me of when we used to have picnics in your backyard."_

_"We'd drink Sprite from plastic champagne glasses, since we had just finished reading __The Great Gatsby__ and you thought it was the 'classy' thing to do."_

_"While eating the many sandwiches and bags of chips I'd sneak out of my house."_

_"And those horrible desserts I made with my Easy-Bake Oven that I forced you to eat!"_

_"Those things were disgusting!" Ezra said, gagging. "I can't believe I actually ate them."_

_"You just did it because you love me," Aria teased, not realizing what she had said until the words tumbled out. She froze._

_Ever since she had kissed him __months __before, she had been walking on eggshells around him. It had helped that he had gone back to Hollis to finish up his last semester of the year, since it meant that they were limited only to short phone calls and text message conversations. She could very easily hide her discomfort when __communication came in virtual form__. B__ut now that he was home for the summer, it wasn't as easy. She wasn't sure if he even remembered the kiss, and she definitely wasn't about to ask, but every moment they had spent together over the last week that he had been back home had just been plain awkward, and she didn't know how to get past it. _

_"Nah, I did it because I felt bad for you. I mean, not even your dog would touch that stuff!" he exclaimed, not seeming to notice her pause. Aria exhaled, finally opening her eyes, glad that awkward moment had passed. She watched curiously as he finally lifted out the last content of the picnic basket and began unwrapping the foil__ around the neck__- it was a bottle of champagne. _

_"Seriously, Ezra? You brought alcohol to a __public __park?" she asked __incredulously. _

_"Sorry I don't have plastic champagne glasses, but I figured, if we're going to have a picnic like we used to, we should at least be able to have the real thing," he reasoned. "Besides, we're celebrating. I just finished my most difficult year of college-"_

_"It's only your second year. There's not much to compare its difficulty to," Aria interjected. _

_"Regardless," he said, popping the cork. "I thought it was cause to celebrate. And also, I wasn't here to celebrate your birthday, so I thought this would make up for it," he said, gesturing to the spread on the blanket. Aria looked down and noticed that he had packed all of her favorite foods, right down to her favorite condiments. "Belated happy 16th!"_

_Aria bit her lip in a desperate attempt to keep from tearing up; it was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done. If she didn't know any better, she'd think this wasn't just his way of making up for missing her birthday. It seemed like a date. She mentally smacked herself for even letting the thought cross her mind. This wasn't a date, this was just Ezra being Ezra. This was just her best friend setting up a picnic for them, just as he had done multiple times in the past when they were younger. _

_Except, this felt so different. _

_Aria pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Come here," she said, reaching her arms out towards him. Ezra smiled and placed the champagne bottle carefully back into the picnic basket before crawling over and enveloping her in a huge hug. "Thank you so much," she said, squeezing him tighter. _

_"You're welcome, kid," Ezra said, squeezing her just as tightly, holding on for a few more seconds before finally letting her go. He leaned back and grabbed the bottle again, offering it to her. "You first, birthday girl."_

_She took the bottle and paused, a millimeter to her lips. "You know we're two underaged people, sitting in the middle of a public park,__ drinking champagne straight from the bottle, _right? What if we get caught?"

_Ezra took the bottle back and ripped off the label so now, on first glance, the glass bottle easily passed for sparkling apple cider. Passing it back to her, he winked and ruffled her hair, "I won't tell anyone if you won't." Aria took a long swig and passed it to him, eyeing him as he mimicked her. _

_"What're you doing?" Ezra asked curiously as she then very slowly and deliberately stood up, kicking her sandals off her feet. He followed her lead and stood up, placing the champagne back into the basket once more, before slipping off his own sandals and placing them next to hers. _

_He cocked an eyebrow, and just like that, she took off running towards the swings. "Race you!" she yelled behind her, already a few feet ahead of him. He laughed as he ran to catch up to her, grabbing her around the waist as soon as he was close enough. She giggled loudly and smacked his arms as he swung her around and dropped her, racing ahead. She quickly got back to her feet, jumping on his back and covering his eyes, causing him to loose his footing, sending them both crashing to the ground, their stomachs aching from so much laughter, their heads slightly lighter from the champagne. _

_She cautiously reached her hand towards his, lacing their fingers together. And surprisingly, he didn't pull away. Oh yeah, it felt like a date, all right. But that was probably all in her mind. In reality, she knew, it was just another summer day spent between two close friends. Nothing more, nothing less._

* * *

"Have you started on the reading for next class yet?" Noel's voice cut through her thoughts.

Aria gestured to her own thick textbook lying open on the table in front of her, "I'm working on it right now. Did you start with Chaucer?"

"Oh man, of course not!" Noel exclaimed, shaking his head fiercely. "I'm starting easy- _Beowulf_ first. At least you can kind of understand what they're saying. _Canterbury Tales_ is insane."

"Tell me about it!" Aria sighed, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and picking up her pink highlighter again. "I've been reading for the last hour, and I've only gotten about five pages into it."

"That's five more pages than me that you've read!" He smiled a crooked smile that made Aria immediately feel at ease. There was something about Noel Kahn's charm that caught her attention. She laughed lightly and flashed him a smile of her own before turning back to her reading.

An hour later, unknowingly a few feet away, Ezra sat on a bench with his laptop going over the slides for his next class, perfectly shaded by a tree. The perfect place to spend a perfect day like today. Although, there was another person he would've liked to share today with, but he was an idiot, so he was obviously going to be punished for it by having to spend the day alone.

"Is this seat taken?" He froze, immediately recognizing the female voice. He groaned in frustration. Of course, he would jinx himself as well. Perfect.

"What do you want, Jackie?" Ezra had a quiz in thirty minutes, and he still had two whole lectures to go through. He wasn't in the mood to deal with any of Jackie's mind games right now.

"Now, is that any way to treat your ex-girlfriend?" she asked, sickly sweet. She sat down next to him, plopping her bag down on the other side of her.

"I'm busy right now," he said dismissively, hoping she would get the picture that he wasn't interested in talking to her at all. "Besides, that was last year. It's old news now. _We're_ old news now," he emphasized, still reading through his slides.

"Yeah, well, whose fault was it that we broke up in the first place?" she asked, a thick accusatory tone coating her voice. "How is the lovely Aria, anyway? Are you two a happy couple yet?"

Ezra tensed at the sound of her name. "Don't drag Aria into this."

"And why not? You certainly didn't have a problem dragging her into our conversations when we were dating. Hell, if I remember correctly, she even ruined my visit to Rosewood. You were supposed to pick me up at the station, remember? But you chose _her _over me? You choose some girl you claim is 'just a friend' over your own _girlfriend_."

"Jackie, don't do this," he warned. "You have no right to bring that up. Not that I owe you an explanation, but Aria was in trouble and needed my help." His mind flashed back to that fateful night before he could even stop himself.

* * *

_Ezra watched as a light breeze picked up, lightly blowing the loose strands of her chestnut hair in the wind, her eyes wide open in wonder, head tilted upwards, a smile playing on her lips. She looked so happy, so carefree, staring up at the dark night sky, the stars twinkling brightly, that he momentarily lost his breath. He stared at her for a moment before forcing himself to look away, lest she look over and notice him starting for a moment too long, leaving him having to explain himself. _

_Ever since that kiss Aria had given him on a dare almost two years ago, he began to see her in a different way. Slowly but surely, she was changing right before his very eyes. The change was amplified more so when he felt that spark that ran up his arm, giving him goosebumps, when she had cautiously reached for his hand during the "birthday picnic" he had set up for her last year. At the time, he hadn't planned for it to be a date, but ten minutes into it, that's what it had felt like. And he wasn't sure how he felt about that._

_It wasn't that he hadn't loved her before, because he certainly did, however it was always an older brother/little sister sort of affection he had for her. She was his best friend, his closest friend since childhood._

_Aria was the girl who would barge into his room on Saturday mornings, jumping on his bed and whacking him repeatedly with a pillow until he got up, just so that they could eat cereal straight from the box in front of the TV together, a cartoon marathon until afternoon. She was the girl who, after a night of scary stories around the campfire during their summer expeditions, would slowly open the door to his room in the middle of the night, creeping up to his bed clutching her blanket, and tapping him lightly on the shoulder, would quietly ask if she could stay with him until morning, afraid of letting anyone else know just how scared she was. _

_She was the girl who would regularly steal his books for school and would read them herself, scribbling her own notes in the margins, her ideas so clever that whenever he presented them in class to his professors, they'd applaud him for such creative thinking. __She was the girl who would memorize his schedule and call him during his breaks in between classes just to rant about the exact same teacher he had dealt with when he went to Rosewood High. She was the girl who sent him lengthy, grammatically correct text messages (they both didn't believe in using shorthand or acronyms) about her boy problems, knowing he would offer advice from an older male's point of view, and then would also reciprocate with his own girl problems. She was the girl he would meet for coffee every time he was in town, just so that they could spend hours catching up on each other's lives. She was like the little sister he never had. _

_Until she wasn't. And that confused the hell out of him, because he suddenly didn't know how to act around her. He couldn't just be _normal_ anymore, especially since he was being forced to keep his feelings in check while trying to figure them out himself. And that was proving to be a hard task, especially as she stood in front of him, seventeen years old, looking beautiful as ever in her floorlength red dress, hair done in an intricate curled up-do, her hazel eyes accentuated by a sultry smoky eye. She was no longer the seven and a half year old girl he had met in his driveway ten years ago, she was now a young woman. Plus, he had a girlfriend who he had been seeing for a few months now, and he was happy with her. Or so he thought._

_"Sorry for making you come all the way to school to pick me up," she apologized, looking at him sadly. "I should've known Daniel was going to be a jerk. Everyone warned me."_

_He remembered the surprise he felt when, while driving to Rosewood from Hollis, he saw Aria's name pop up on his caller ID. He knew it was the night of her Senior Prom, and he figured she'd be too busy with her friends and date to even acknowledge the fact that he was home for the weekend. He pulled over to the side of the road and picked up the his phone, his face paling as he heard her voice- she sounded so defeated, so small. Instead of heading to the train station where he was supposed to pick up his girlfriend, her first time in Rosewood so that she could finally meet his friends and family, he immediately made a u-turn and rushed to pick Aria up._

_Once she was safe in his car, he immediately drove to the park where they spent so much time as kids, knowing she needed to calm down first before heading home, or she would probably break down alone in her room. They walked side-by-side quietly along the sidewalked path, illuminated by the street lamps and the shining full moon, Ezra making sure not to prod her and just let her know that he was there for her. After a few minutes, he guided her to the bench where they now sat._

_"Hey," Ezra said, lightly placing a hand on her arm comfortingly. There was that spark again. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known he was going to pull something like that. I'm just glad you were strong enough to fight him off and get away. I'm just glad you're safe now." In the back of his mind, he could still see the look of utter disappointment in her eyes when he had pulled up to the front of Rosewood High, music still pulsating through all the cracks and crevices of the building._

_"Thanks, again," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer into him. "It just sucks that I didn't even get to stay for the last dance."_

_Ezra looked down at the girl next to him, noticing a tear slip down her cheek faster than she could wipe it away. He felt his heart clench, crushed that her prom night was ruined. No one, especially someone as amazing as Aria, should ever have to experience something like that at one of their most important events in high school. Immediately, all her wanted to do was make it all better, make everything right again. "What are you doing?" she asked as Ezra pulled out his iPhone, unlocking it and scrolling through a list quickly. _

_"This is your favorite song right now, right?" he said, the beginning strains of Alex and Sierra's "Little Do You Know" pouring out from the speakers of his phone. He felt her nod her head, and he pulled his arm away from her shoulders. She looked at him questioningly as he stood up, offering her his hand. "Who said you have to miss the last dance?"_

_Aria grinned for the first time that night, the beauty of her smile rivaling that of the stars and moon, stood up and placed her right hand in his. She wrapped her left arm around his neck as he wound his arm tightly around her waist, both slowly swaying to the music. It was almost audible, that moment when the pieces all clicked together for Ezra. _

_"Can I tell you something?" Ezra asked quietly, taking a deep breath, his heart hammering against his chest. Was he really going to admit this now? Was it really the right time?_

_"Hmm?" Aria hummed, her head resting on his chest like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was sure she could hear his rapid heartbeat, and for a moment, he was embarrassed._

_Ezra stopped, pulling away slightly to look at her, but never once letting go. He locked his deep blue eyes with her hazel ones. "Aria, I-," he stopped __mid sentence, ears perking up. His eyes scanned the darkness, wondering where that mysterious sound was coming from. _

_"Ezra?" Aria asked, puzzled. Suddenly they heard the unmistakable "psst, psst, psst" sound of the sprinklers. _

_"Run!" Ezra yelled with a deep laugh, grabbing his phone from the bench, attempting to shield Aria with his jacket as all the sprinklers in the park turned on simultaneously, showering them with water. He could hear her squealing next to him, their hands clasped together, while they sprinted to take cover under the shaded area on the playground. _

_"Wait!" Aria called, pulling him back. He looked back at her as she dropped his hand, a bright smile on her face. She stood directly under the streams of water almost artistically criss-crossing above her, extending her arms out and spinning around like a child, giggling with happiness._

_"You're going to catch a cold!" he yelled loudly, attempting to raise his voice higher than the volume of the water hitting the ground._

_"When did you get so old?!" she taunted, reaching her hand out towards him. "Come on, Fitz, live a little!"_

_Ezra rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips pulling up into a smile. In that moment, she looked so much like the little girl he first met that he couldn't help falling for her all over again. "What the hell," he said, pulling his phone back out. He turned up the volume to max and threw it towards the playground, along with his jacket, where he knew they would both be safe from water damage. He grabbed her hand and twirled her around, both of them laughing like the children they used to be._

_They danced under the water until the sprinkler heads finally retreated back into the grass, the entire park falling comfortably silent, save for Aria and Ezra's laughter. "Hey, what were you saying before? You never finished," Aria asked, snuggling closer into Ezra's side for warmth while making their way back to his car. _

_He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, biding his time. The moment for him to tell her how he felt had passed. "It was nothing," he said. "I was just going to tell you that you look beautiful tonight." He looked down at her as she turned her head up towards him, giving him a small smile. _

_"Thanks," she replied meekly, tucking a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. "You're not too bad yourself," she paused, a wicked smile creeping up on her face, "you know, when you don't look like a wet rat," she mocked, attempting to lighten the mood. _

_"Hey!" he exclaimed, nudging her side. "Keep teasing me and I'll make you walk home." He untangled his arm from her shoulder and tucked his hands in his pockets, walking away._

_"5. 4. 3. 2-" he counted down to himself. _

_"You wouldn't dare!" Aria had stopped in her tracks, a shocked look on her face. "Ezra!" He kept walking towards his car, chuckling. It wasn't long before he heard the sound of heels quickly clacking against the sidewalk behind him. "You suck," she said out of breath, finally catching up to him. _

_He said nothing as they approached his car, him pressing the button on his keys once, unlocking only the driver's side door. "Ezraaaaa!" she wined. "Fine," she said with a huff, "I'm sorry. You don't look like a wet rat!"_

_Ezra stopped, his lips turning up into a smirk. "That's better." _

_"I still think you suck."_

_"I love you, too, kid," he said, only half teasingly. "Come on," he took off his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders, pressing the button on his keys once more to unlock her door. "It's getting late. Let's get you home."_

_They had both suspiciously gotten sick afterwards, since they both had to drive back home in the cold, nighttime weather while soaking wet. But to them, for that perfect moment of happiness, it was well worth it._

* * *

"What time is it?" Noel asked in between a break in their conversation. "Oh, crap," he said frantically, looking at his watch, "I have class in five minutes, and it's all the way across campus!" He quickly began gathering his things together.

Aria looked at her phone, surprised to see that they had been talking for almost two hours. She groaned, shutting her textbook, "I didn't even get any reading done. I'm going to have to pull an all-nighter tonight just to finish this before tomorrow's class."

Noel laughed, "That makes two of us." Aria noticed that even though he had said he had class in five minutes, he was taking his time actually packing everything up and leaving. Not that she was complaining. "Hey, why don't you give me your number, and we can keep each other awake tonight while we try to stay away from Sparknotes-ing all of it?" he attempted to ask casually.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Sorry, I don't give my number to guys I just met."

"But you know me! We have class together, remember?" he tried to reason, still not leaving.

"Yeah, but we've never _met_. There's a big difference between having a class together and actually meeting." She was going to make him work for her number.

"Okay, well, how about the second time we meet? Will you give me your number then?"

"Maybe," she said coyly. It had been so long since she had met a guy worth flirting with, and she was actually having fun.

"In that case," Noel said, reaching into a pocket in his backpack, pulling out a thick glossy flyer. "Why don't we meet up a second time at my party? Well, my frat's party. Saturday night."

Aria reached out and took the flyer, skimming the info before twirling it in her hand. "Yeah, definitely. Sounds like a plan."

Noel finally stood up and looked at his watch again, "Crap. I'm definitely late now." She laughed, taking the hand he extended, "Well, Aria Montgomery, it was a pleasure meeting you. I'll see you on Saturday."

She rolled her eyes as he winked and began backing away from the table. "See you Saturday." She was too busy staring at Noel walking away, their entire conversation replaying in her mind, that she didn't notice another two pairs of eyes watching her.

"Noel Kahn, huh? Looks like you and Aria _aren't_ the happy couple I thought you would be by now," Jackie said snarkily, watching Ezra's jaw tense when she saw him spot Aria talking to Noel.

Ezra tore his eyes away from Aria and Noel and looked back down at his laptop, pretending to be suddenly preoccupied with his lecture slides again. "I repeat, what do you want, Jackie?"

"Actually, Noel's part of why I came to talk to you," she said, turning to dig into her bag. "My sorority and his frat are having a party this Saturday. I thought you might like to come."

He stared suspiciously at the flyer she held out towards him. Realizing Ezra wasn't going to take it without a fight, she looked at him sincerely, "Look, I haven't seen you at any of our parties in a while, and I remember how much you used to enjoy them, once upon a time. I also know that you were actually friends with a lot of my friends, and I heard you haven't talked to any of them since we broke up. They miss you, you know. I just wanted to pass you an invite, in case you wanted to stop by and say hi."

She dropped the flyer on his keyboard before standing up, pulling the strap of her bag onto her shoulder again. "I'm not asking you to be my date. Just think about coming," she said with a smile. Ezra looked at her, touched by her willingness to put their past aside for the sake of her friends. It was times like this that he remembered why he had ever dated her in the first place; she was actually a pretty great person, once you got past her pretentiousness and got to know the real her. "I know Aria is probably going to be there, too. I promise I'll play nice."

"No hidden agenda?" Ezra clarified.

Jackie held her hands up, "No hidden agenda. Promise."

"I'll be there," he said after a beat of silence. He saw a flicker of hope pass through Jackie's eyes, disappearing faster than it had appeared. She smirked, turning and beginning to walk away. "Hey, Jackie?" he called before she got too far away.

He watched as she turned around, eyeing him curiously. "It was nice seeing you again."

She smiled, nodding, "You too, Ezra." She turned again, calling out, "See you Saturday!" a small wave of her fingers serving as a goodbye to him.

He chuckled, looking over once more at Aria. He saw her pick up her flyer, a slightly discernible blush creeping up onto her cheeks. His jaw tightened once more. Oh yeah, Jackie, and _Noel and Aria_, were all going to see him on Saturday, that was for sure.

* * *

**A/N: My one rule with this story was that I would always be one chapter ahead, I would never post unless I had more than half of the next one written. I'm breaking that rule because I've had parts of this written for a while, and I was too excited to wait. HAHA.  
****That being said, I don't know when the next chapter will be up, since I haven't written any of it yet. I promise to get it up ASAP, but I'm not going to rush it just so I can post something.  
I'm actually fairly proud of this chapter, it may be one of my most favorite things I've written to date, after the epilogue of Love's to Blame, that is (speaking of which, if you haven't read that story of mine, I highly suggest checking that out while waiting for my next update if you need something to read. (; ). So, if you liked this chapter as well, please review! It only takes a few seconds, and it pushes me to write. Which, in turn, actually helps you!  
Thanks again for all your support!  
- J**


	4. The Party's Over

**A/N: So sorry that this took forever to post, I got a case of writer's block and it just kept getting pushed onto the back burner. BUT, good thing is, I'm back with a new chapter! Bad news? There's only one chapter left after this, and then the epilogue. So, I guess it's technically two chapters. Haha.  
****If you liked this, please review! And thank you all again for the amazing reviews so far, they truly always make my day that much better. (:  
Enjoy!  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the words.

* * *

"Aria, you ready to go yet? We're going to miss breakfast!" Emily called out from the living room of their shared suite style dorm, where the four girls were sitting on the couch, waiting impatiently for Aria to finish getting ready.

"Hold on!" she yelled from her room, rushing to throw on sweats and tying her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head, checking the clock and realizing they only have five minutes to make it to the dining hall before they closed to prepare for lunch. "Crap," she muttered, grabbing her lanyard with her keys and ID to swipe into the dining hall, looping it around her neck and running out her door.

She was out of breath by the time she made it into the living room, greeted by curious eyes. "Rough night?" Alison asked, a corner of her perfectly glossed lips turning up into a smirk.

"Oh yeah," Aria said, slumping onto the couch next to Spencer and Emily, "I finally had my last date with Chaucer. It was pretty hot, even though he didn't speak English very well, and I spent most of the night trying to decipher what it was exactly he was trying to tell me. That's the last time I'm going out with anyone from the 14th century."

Spencer uncharacteristically snorted in sympathy, remembering her late nights last semester decoding Chaucer's old English. "We're obviously not going to make it to breakfast, so why don't we just grab coffee and a couple sandwiches from our coffee shop? You're going to need the caffeine, anyway."

"Oh, thank God. Coffee sounds amazing right now," Aria said, leaning her head back onto the couch and shutting her eyes for a moment. "And I can tell you guys all about the guy I met at the quad on Thursday." It wasn't long before she felt four pairs of hands pulling her up from the couch and pushing her out the door.

Aria smiled as she felt the bright mid-morning sun hit her face. "Spill," Hanna said, linking her arms with Aria's and Emily's, the five girls walking out towards their favorite coffee shop together, arm in arm.

"Well," Aria began, "His name is Noel, and he's in one of my classes..."

* * *

Aria, Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Alison all walked into the coffee shop fifteen minutes later, their chorus of laughter melodically filling the room. Ezra looked up to see them milling up around the counter, trying to determine what they wanted to order.

He momentarily thought about bolting, not sure if he was ready to face Aria quite yet. Sure it had been a week and a half, but they had both been so caught up in their own lives that they hadn't even been in the same vicinity lately, save for on Thursday when he spotted her across the quad talking to that Noel Kahn guy. He knew he had made a mistake with his stupid idea, but at the time, he had convolutedly thought it would bring them closer together, but it had actually worked against him, driving her away.

He watched as Alison spotted him, nudging Aria and tilting her head in his direction. "_Well, there goes the bolting idea,"_ he thought to himself as he raised his hand, giving them a small wave. Aria placed her hand on Spencer's arm, probably telling her her order, then pointed at his table. Spencer nodded, and Aria made her way to his table, weaving through the small crowd of people in between them, waiting for their orders.

"Hey, Ezra," she said, standing next to the table, clearly unsure of what to do. He stood up, not knowing the protocol himself, hesitating before opening his arms out for a hug. She stifled a laugh before wrapping her arms around him tightly, "You're so awkward."

He squeezed her back, before releasing her. "You're one to talk," he shot back, gesturing at her to sit. She gladly took the seat opposite from him, placing her lanyard on the table. "So, how are you?"

"I'm good," she replied, not exactly knowing what to say, "But I was up late last night catching up on my reading, so I slept in and we missed breakfast. That's why we're here, grabbing some coffee and sandwiches."

Ezra gestured to his black coffee sitting in front of him, "I was finishing a couple assignments and filling out graduation forms, so I was up late, too. I came here for a little caffeine boost." Aria forced a laugh, anything to break the palpable awkwardness between them. It fell quiet again, neither knowing quite what to say.

"So," Ezra started, carefully formulating his question so that it would sound like he was indifferent towards any answer that could follow, "I saw you talking to Noel Kahn a couple days ago." He took a long sip of his coffee, placing it back down and looking into the cup, purposefully avoiding her eyes.

"Yeah? We're in the same Intro to Brit Lit class," she replied cooly, cocking an eyebrow. Of all subjects they he could've chosen, he had decided to ask about another guy? That wasn't exactly the topic she would've chosen, but, okay.

"Oh, really? That's nice." He drummed his fingers on the table, "Jackie knows him, actually."

"Jackie?" He could hear the apprehension in her voice. "I didn't know you still talked to her."

"I don't," he said firmly. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore he could've seen the tiniest of smiles on her lips. "But I saw her on Thursday. She invited me to Phi Phi Phi's party tonight. I used to go to them all the time when I started out at Hollis, but I strayed away from that scene after we broke up. Jackie and I, that is," he felt the need to clarify.

"I forgot she's in 'Tri Phi'," Aria said, biting her lip. "Noel's in Omega Mu Omicron. I guess the party tonight is hosted by both of them?"

"Yeah, they're brother-sister organizations. They tend to throw joint parties a lot."

"And, you're going?"

"Well, yeah. I was planning on going and meeting up with some old friends I haven't seen in a while over there."

Aria nodded understandingly, "That makes sense. I guess I'll see you there, then." She wanted so badly to ask if he was going on his own, or if he was going as Jackie's date, but she stopped herself. They weren't exactly 'dating', and he had said they were free to see whomever they wanted, so it wasn't really in her place to ask.

"You'll see each other where?" Spencer asked curiously, the four girls finally arriving at the table with their coffees and bags of food. They each pulled up a chair, joining Aria and Ezra.

"There's a party tonight, Tri Phi and Omega Mu. That guy from my class that I was telling you about invited me, so I was thinking about going," Aria explained.

"Another Tri Phi party? Count me in!" Hanna exclaimed. "I still remember that Tri Phi party you brought us to last summer," she stopped, and her eyebrows scrunched together. "Well, I remember _parts_ of it. I think I had a good time."

"Hanna," Ezra warned, pointing a finger at her, "We had a deal, remember? What happened at that party _stayed_ at that party."

A look of realization crossed Hanna's face as she remembered what had happened that night. Her lips formed an 'O' as Ezra silently tried to keep her from saying anything.

"Wait, wasn't that around the time you and Jackie broke up? I don't really remember anything from that night, either, but I think you said something happened between you two at that party," Aria said, and Ezra very nearly wanted to dig himself a hole to hide in. Anything that would have to keep him from explaining. "What exactly _happened_ that night, anyway?"

* * *

_"Three rules. Number one: try not to drink too much of the punch__. T__here's _a lot_ of alcohol in it and you'll regret it in the morning," Ezra said, walking backwards and talking to the group of soon to be first year Hollis students following him. Although they were still a few hundred feet away from the house, the music pounding through the speakers was already audible, the catchy, pulsating music piercing through the quiet air. _

_"Number two: I want you girls sticking together. I can't keep an eye on all of you if you're all in different parts of the house, and I'm not about to get in trouble with your parents. For all they know, I'm giving you a tour of the school this weekend, not taking you partying."_

_He had known it was a bad idea when Aria called him up that morning, letting him know that she and the girls were heading out to Hollis to check out the school for the weekend, an idea planned by their parents. He mentally reminded himself to call his mother and scold her for not giving him more warning, even though he knew that he would probably get into even more trouble. Not that he wasn't already going to get in trouble if something happened to the girls and everyone found out he had brought them to a college party. _

_He hadn't planned on bringing them to the Tri Phi party, but it was their last one before finals week and summer vacation, and he had already promised Jackie he would be there. He was still trying to get back into her good graces after unceremoniously leaving her stranded at the train station a couple weeks back, and ditching out on her party would probably not be the best idea. So, he had no choice but to bring them- and it wasn't as if they had protested anyway. _

_"Number three-"_

_"Okay, _Dad,_" Alison interrupted in frustration, "enough with the rules."_

_"Rule three," Ezra emphasized, walking up the steps to the Tri Phi house, placing his hand on the doorknob, "What happens at this party _stays_ at this party. I don't want you guys gossiping like little school girls about anything you see here. Not only would that ruin my reputation, but it makes you all seem immature. And you don't want to be seen as immature freshmen, right?" he asked. _

_"Right," they said in unison, looks of excitement dancing in their eyes. _

_Ezra laughed, "Okay, think you can all agree to those rules?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Okay," he nodded, turning the doorknob and swinging open the door, "Go, have fun!" He chuckled to himself once again as the girls practically ran in, immediately __making their way to the drinks, "And remember what I said about that punch!" _

_Ezra shut the door behind him, making his way into the foyer, saying hi to the people he knew. He walked through the living room and through the kitchen, finally making it to the garage where tables were set up with a beer pong tournament. His eyes roamed around the small room before he spotted just the person he was looking for, walking over to her with a smile. "Hey," he whispered in her ear, circling his arms around her waist and kissing her on the cheek. _

_Jackie giggled, swatting his arm away, "Hold on, it's my turn! I want revenge, Caleb's been making all of his last shots, and I've had to keep drinking. It's his turn." She bounced the ball on the table and directly landing it into a cup, throwing her arms up in victory. "Drink, Caleb!" she exclaimed before turning and throwing her arms around Ezra. "I'm glad you finally made it."_

_"I'm glad I finally made it, too."_

_An hour later, Jackie and Ezra had found themselves inside a room on the second floor, all alone. But not for the reasons the other rooms in the house were currently occupied for. Jackie stood in front of the door, arms crossed across her chest, blocking Ezra's only path to exit. He leaned against the dresser on the other side of the room, readying himself for her verbal abuse. _

_"I can't believe you brought Aria here!" she spat, vitriol surrounding each syllable. "What were you thinking?!"_

_"I had no choice! She called me this morning saying her and her friends were coming out for the weekend! What was I supposed to do, say no?" _

_"That's exactly what you were supposed to do!" She shook her head fiercely, "I can't believe you had to nerve to bring her to _my own sorority's_ party!"_

_"Hey, you're the one who always told me to bring friends, remember? The more people, the better?" he asked, attempting to defend himself. "Aria, Hanna, Spencer, Alison and Emily are all my friends. What makes them any different that I can't bring them around?"_

_"Well, first off, they're in high school."_

_"They just graduated! They're starting here at Hollis in a couple month's time."_

_Jackie dismissed his rebuttal with a wave, "And second, you already know how I feel about Aria!"_

_"Yeah, you've made that perfectly clear."_

_"Look, Ezra," she said, walking towards him, trying to keep her voice calm. "I know that you're friends, and even though I don't like it, I've been trying to at least try to respect it." She reached up and twisted a stray curl near his forehead in between her fingers. "But don't you think maybe it's time you let her go? You said it yourself, she's going to be in college soon. Maybe you just need to try to stay away and let her live her life."_

_"Jackie, you know Aria and I have been friends for a long time. More than ten years. You don't just get rid of a friendship like that in five minutes. Nor do I want to," he argued. "I admit, maybe I can be a little overprotective of her at times, but it's because she's like a little sister to me."_

_She scoffed. "Little sister my ass," she muttered. "I can see the way you two look at each other, and that is _not_ how brothers and sisters look at each other." She pulled her hand away from his hair. "I don't know if I can be with you if you're still friends with her."_

_Shock crossed Ezra's face. "Are you issuing me an ultimatum?"_

_"It's me, or her. You can't have us both, that's just not fair to me, or to her, for that matter."_

_"Jackie, don't make me choose," he whispered._

_"You're in love with her, aren't you?"_

_He shifted his gaze down, not wanting to meet her eyes, not wanting to give her an answer. "I thought so," she said, crossing the room hastily. "It seems like you've made your choice. You and me, we're done." She pulled open the door, quickly stepping back as a girl almost tumbled to the floor in front of her. The girl grabbed onto the door frame to steady herself. She had clearly been listening to their entire conversation through the door. _

_"Sorry," Hanna mumbled, pointing into the room, "I thought this was the bathroom. I guess not."_

_"No, it's not," Jackie spat, walking out the door. She stopped a few feet away, turning to face Ezra once more, "Get Aria and her friends out of here. I don't want to see any of you in this house again." She stalked off downstairs, and Ezra took a deep breath, pushing himself off the dresser._

_"I'm sorry, I really thought this was the bathroom," Hanna slurred as Ezra slung her arm around his neck, gripping his arm around her waist, supporting most of her weight. _

_"I know," he said, leading her back down the stairs. "It's time we get all of you back home."_

* * *

"Nothing, nothing," Ezra responded, downing the rest of his coffee. He stood up abruptly, much to the confusion of the five girls at the table. He rubbed the back of his neck, a habit Aria knew he had whenever he was stressed about something. "I have to get going, I have some things I need to do. But maybe I'll see you all at the party tonight." Without so much as a goodbye, he swiftly walked out of the coffee shop.

"Well," Spencer drew out, "That was strange."

"Tell me about it," Aria said, watching as his figure slowly disappeared around the corner of the street, no doubt heading back to his apartment. She brushed his strange behavior from her mind, turning her attention back to her four friends sitting around her. "So, what do you say? Are you guys in for a party tonight?"

"Definitely," Hanna said. "And this time, I promise to try to stay away from that punch."

* * *

"Is it weird that I can still hear Ezra's voice repeating his three rules in my head?" Spencer asked as they approached the Tri Phi party, music blaring down the street, following the stream of college students that was heading in the same direction.

Aria laughed, "Rule one: Don't drink too much of the punch. Rule two: Stick together. Rule three: What happens at this party, _stays_ at the party," she repeated, almost perfectly imitating Ezra's voice.

Hanna snorted, already slightly tipsy from pregaming at their dorm while getting ready. "Aria, you sounded exactly like him!"

Emily rolled her eyes, "Hanna, maybe you should sober up first before going for round two?"

"Round three," she corrected, attempting to hold up three fingers. Spencer, Aria and Alison chuckled at the sight of a tipsy Hanna, continuing their walk up the steps of the Tri Phi house.

"You guys ready?" Aria asked, hand on the doorknob. They all nodded excitedly as Aria turned open the doorknob and pushed open the door, immediately immersed into the party by the people behind them pushing them in.

The five of them stood in the foyer, looking around. "This is eerily discomforting for some reason," Aria said, feeling like there were multiple pairs of eyes glaring at her. She turned and surveyed the rooms, noticing that, in fact, many of the girls inside were glaring at her. "Guys, did I do something to upset the social hierarchy?"

"You're just being paranoid," Emily said. "No one's staring at you," she tried to assure Aria.

"I didn't tell you that they were staring at me," Aria whispered. "So obviously, you noticed that they are."

"Maybe they're staring at all of us. They can tell we're first years," Alison said. She pulled on Aria's hand, leading her into the kitchen, "Come on, let's get a drink."

Making their way into the kitchen, Aria spotted a tall figure leaning on the wall in the corner holding a red Solo cup, talking animatedly to a couple of the frat brothers. She noticed as he saw her, his face lighting up as he excused himself from the guys he was talking to to greet her.

"Hey, you made it!" he said, pulling her into a hug.

"You seemed so desperate to get my number, I didn't want to disappoint you by not showing up," she giggled, hugging him back. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw two girls looking directly at her and whispering something in hushed tones, but she brushed it away. Maybe she _was_ just paranoid.

She felt his chest rumble with laughter. "And who are these?" he asked, finally letting her go.

"Noel, this is Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Alison. We've all been friends basically since birth," Aria said, introducing them one by one. "Guys, this is Noel. We have class together. He's the one who invited me."

"Nice to meet you, Noel," Hanna said enthusiastically, her words starting to slur ever so slightly. "He's cute, Aria! You didn't tell us he was cute!"

Aria's face reddened as Noel laughed loudly, putting his arm around her. "You didn't tell them I was cute? I'm offended," he mocked, placing a hand on his heart, face filled with false hurt.

"Don't give yourself that much credit," Aria countered, attempting to diffuse her embarrassment.

"So, where are the drinks?" Alison asked.

Noel led the way to the the giant metal bucket sitting in a sink full of ice where two of the sorority sisters were passing out cups of punch. "Stephanie, Melinda," he said, "This is Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Alison," he introduced. "They're friends of mine."

"Aria?" the girl on the right, Stephanie, Aria assumed, asked. Aria nodded. "Sorry, the rest of you can have a drink. Aria isn't allowed."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'not allowed'?" Noel asked, confused.

Melinda nodded at a figure in the living room talking to a guy, and Aria followed her gaze. Her face hardened as she realized who it was. Melinda shrugged, "Just following directions. Jackie specifically told us that if a girl named Aria showed up, she wasn't allowed anywhere near the alcohol."

"What? That doesn't even make sense!" Noel exclaimed. He started walking away towards Jackie, who had noticed their presence and was smirking, "Hold on, let me go talk to her."

Aria pulled his arm to stop him. "No, Noel, forget about her. It's not a big deal. I wasn't planning on drinking, anyway. I have to get up early in the morning, and I don't want to be nursing a hangover."

He studied her face, "You sure?"

"I'm sure," she assured him. She grabbed a cup from the counter, "Just show me where the water is. No one has to know I'm not drinking."

"Later," Noel said, taking the cup from her hands and nestling his own inside of it, before placing them on the counter. He grabbed her hand, "First, let's go dance." He acknowledged the girls, "There's beer pong in the garage, and I think they're playing 'Never Have I Ever' in the game room upstairs, if you're interested."

Aria smiled and nodded, waving at the girls. "I'll catch up with you guys later? Remember the rules!" she winked.

"Rules?" Noel asked once they were on the makeshift dance floor in the living room. The room was dark, illuminated only by the strobe lights emanating from the DJ booth, casting the bodies around them in blue, red, green and yellow. "You guys have rules about partying? Can I know them?"

"Don't worry about them. We're probably going to break them all anyway."

* * *

Ezra walked into the Tri Phi house for the first time since last summer. "This is weird," he muttered to himself, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey, Ezra!" he heard a familiar voice call out. He looked up the stairs towards the source of the voice and gave a wave as they descended down to the first floor. "It's good to see you, man! It's been a while."

"Good to see you, too, Caleb," Ezra said, giving him the mandatory male handshake/hug/back clap. "How've you been?"

"I've been good," Caleb said, "just trying to make it through these last few weeks before graduation."

Ezra laughed, "Tell me about it. It's a struggle."

"Hey, you still sharing an apartment with Toby? Is he coming tonight?"

"Yeah, he's coming. He's just finishing up one of his assignments for his engineering class; he'll be here later tonight."

Ezra watched as Caleb spotted two girls making their way to the living room, the blonde girl stumbling every step of the way. Caleb turned back to Ezra, a smile on his face. "Excuse me for a second? I'll meet up with you later."

"Be careful, they're first years," Ezra warned.

"How do you know? You know them?" Caleb asked, looking back at them sitting on the couch, laughing loudly.

"That's Hanna and Emily."

"No way!" Caleb exclaimed. "They've grown up!" Ezra rolled his eyes as Caleb clapped him on his shoulder, walking towards Hanna and Emily. "I'll see you later!" he called out to Ezra, not even bothering to look back.

Ezra eventually found himself in the kitchen, weaving through the packed room until he reached the sink. "Ezra!"

"Hey Stephanie, Melinda," he greeted the girls with a hug. "They put you guys on punch duty again?"

Stephanie laughed, "Someone's gotta do it. If not, we'd run out of alcohol much too soon."

"Here's your drink," Melinda said, handing Ezra a cup filled almost to the brim. "Don't finish it too fast," she said with a wink.

Ezra took a big gulp, the sweet liquor burning his throat lightly. He tipped the cup towards them in thanks and started heading towards the garage, knowing he would find more of his friends out there, competing in the beer pong tournament. But, before he could, he suddenly heard two distinctive female voices yelling at each other in the foyer.

"Oh crap," he said, chugging half of his drink down before placing the cup on the table, running towards where the scene was playing out.

* * *

For the last two hours, Noel had taken Aria all around the house, introducing her to all of his friends, and surprisingly, she was having a great time. "Ready to head back out to the dance floor?" Aria asked Noel as they were sitting on the couch in the game room, watching everyone play 'Never Have I Ever'. It was always a fun game to watch, as you learned so much more about everyone than you thought you ever would.

"Definitely," he said, taking her hand and helping her up. He kept his hand in hers as he led her down the stairs, the two of them laughing and talking the entire way.

"Hey, Noel," Aria heard a sweet voice say. She groaned, looking at the foot of the stairs. "Oh, hi there, Aria."

"Jackie," Aria greeted curtly. "Nice to see you again."

"You two know each other?" Noel asked, gesturing between them.

"Unfortunately," Aria and Jackie answered in unison, both of them glaring at each other.

"So, Aria, are you enjoying the party? Must be much more fun this time than it was before. Although, I bet you think showing up at my own sorority's party, making a scene and embarrassing me is pretty fun as it is," Jackie said snidely.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're right, that _does_ sound like fun!" Aria replied cheerfully.

"Yeah," Jackie scoffed, "I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about. That's about as believable as you saying you never stole Ezra from me."

"I didn't steal Ezra from you," Aria retorted. "Because that would imply that Ezra was yours to begin with."

"He was _my_ boyfriend."

"But he was _my_ friend, first! Besides, I didn't do anything to sabotage your relationship. Unlike you who tried to do everything in your power to ruin my friendship with him."

"Oh, you didn't do anything?" Jackie hissed. "So that one time I came down to Rosewood to visit him, you _didn't_ call him begging him to pick you up from your pathetic prom, causing him to leave me stranded at the station?"

"That wasn't my fault and you know it. It's not as if I called him and said, 'Hey, Ezra, why don't you ditch that bitchy girlfriend of yours and come hang out with me instead?'"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

"You know what," Aria said, taking a step forward, "I have better things to do than argue with some petty ex-girlfriend who can't let the past go. So, excuse us." Jackie took a step to the left, further blocking Aria and Noel.

"Jackie, move," Noel said forcefully.

"Make me," she countered.

Aria laughed, "Why don't you go sober up? You act really childish when you're drunk."

"Why don't _you_ go sober up, Aria?"

"I _am_ sober. You set up an alcohol ban on me, remember?" She tried her best to stand her ground, but it was difficult to do when Jackie was getting so close to her, a fury in her eyes so intense, Aria was afraid one more word from her would make Jackie snap and punch her. She gripped Noel's hand tighter for support.

"Back off, Jackie." Aria turned to face Ezra, standing in the doorway connecting the kitchen with the foyer. "I mean it."

Jackie's head snapped towards Ezra, and immediately her scowl was replaced by a sweet smile. "Oh, hey Ezra! I'm glad you could make it. Aria and I were just having a little chat."

"I should've known you weren't being honest when you said you would play nice tonight," he said, walking towards them. Aria watched as his eyes drifted to her hand linked tightly with Noel's. She saw his jaw tighten and his face harden.

"Aria, I think it's time to go," he said sternly.

"Excuse me? Why do I have to go?" she blurted out, a look of satisfaction making it's way onto Jackie's face.

"Hey, man, let her stay. We've got this under control," Noel reasoned, appraising Ezra. So _this_ was the guy this whole argument was about.

"Ezra?" Toby said, opening the door to the house. He hadn't been expecting to be greeted to the party by the scene in front of him.

"Hanna and Emily are with Caleb, I have no idea where Spencer and Alison are. When they're ready to go, just bring them back to the apartment. Aria and I need to have a talk," Ezra said, talking to Toby behind him, his eyes locked with Aria's all the while, proving to her just how serious he was.

"I'm not leaving, Ezra."

"This isn't a joke, Aria," Ezra growled. "We're leaving. Now."

The entire room was silent, the crowd watching as the two of them glared at each other, neither refusing to give in.

"Maybe you should go," Noel said quietly, dropping Aria's hand. She broke her's and Ezra's staring contest to look up at Noel. He nodded supportively, "I'll see you in class on Tuesday. And don't worry about the girls, I'll make sure Caleb and Toby get them home safely." He leaned down and kissed Aria lightly and quickly on the cheek.

"Let's go," Ezra said once more, opening the front door.

Aria crossed her arms and walked the last two steps down the stairs, shooting Jackie one last glare and bumping her shoulder forcefully with hers, almost knocking her down to the ground. Aria smiled triumphantly as she walked out the front door and into the cold, night air.

She heard Ezra shut the door behind them, then felt his hand on the small of her back. She recoiled from his touch and stopped in the middle of the street, looking him directly in the eye.

"I hate you."


	5. Revelations

**A/N: You guys, you're making me second guess ending this! Haha. Thank you all for your amazing reviews, it truly means the world to me that you're liking this story!****  
****This chapter is where everything should start making sense. Enjoy! (:  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words.

* * *

"You wanted to talk, so talk," Aria huffed, walking through Ezra's living room and stopping in front of his couch, arms crossed in front of her chest. She refused to sit, hoping that it would make him to explain things faster. He had forced her to leave the party, a party where she was actually having a good time meeting people, and she was in no mood to deal with him. So she had had a little run in with his ex-girlfriend, but that wasn't anything she couldn't handle on her own.

He groaned, shutting the door behind him, running a hand through his hair. He knew that it probably wasn't the best idea to make her leave, but he knew that when she started to get a few too many drinks in her, she had a tendency to cause a scene. Not that what had happened back there couldn't already be considered a scene, but had he not stepped in, who knows how far it could have escalated.

Plus, he didn't like the way that Noel guy had held her hand and was so close to her. And that kiss on her cheek! He knew her and Noel hadn't known each other for that long, and for him to kiss her on the cheek like that was just unacceptable. At the time, he didn't know whether he was feeling jealousy or overprotectiveness or a mixture of the two, but either way, he knew he had to get her out of there. For all their sakes.

He walked around her and sat down on the couch in front of her. "Aria-", he began, only to be cut off by her finger pointing accusatorially in his face.

"No, actually, I'm going to talk," she snapped, beginning to pace across his living room floor. "Where do you get off dragging me out of a party I was actually enjoying? You have no right to do that!"

"I was worried you were having too much to drink, and I wanted to get you out of there in case you did something stupid. _Again_," he said bluntly. She had interrupted him and was yelling at him, and his own patience was wearing thin. Forget his censor, maybe it was time they were both honest and let everything out for once.

"I haven't even had anything to drink tonight!"

Ezra scoffed, "I heard a couple people say you've had a red Solo cup in your hands all night. I honestly doubt you haven't been drinking."

"It was filled with water!" Aria threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "I wasn't drinking because I knew I had work I needed to finish in the morning!"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"I'm sorry, do you want to smell my breath?" she asked haughtily. "Besides, _your_ ex-girlfriend put an alcohol ban on me! Not only did she force everyone to withhold drinks for me, but she somehow turned all her minions against me with what I bet are stupid rumors. I spent all night being glared at by most of her Tri Phi sisters!" She paused, catching her breath. "Wait, stop making this about me!"

She looked him straight in the eye. "Tell me the truth, Ezra. What is _your_ problem? We both know you wanting to get me out of there because you were afraid I'd make a fool of myself is just a load of bull. You saw firsthand that I handled myself pretty well when Jackie confronted me, so it honestly can't be because of that. Let me guess, you were jealous that I was there with Noel," she said sarcastically.

When he shifted his gaze away for a split second, her eyes widened, knowing she had hit the nail right on the head. "Oh my God, you dragged me out because you were jealous that I was there with another guy!" she accused. Ezra didn't say anything as she glared at him, continuing her rant. "Need I remind you, Ezra, that _you_ were the one who suggested this whole 'no strings' thing! I was ready to be with you exclusively, but you were the one who said we should 'date other people'. Remember? You have no right to be jealous when this is all your fault."

* * *

_Aria took a deep breath before raising her hand to knock on Ezra's door. She knew he had to be home by now since he had called her that morning, ecstatic that his afternoon lecture was cancelled. __He had asked if she wanted to stop by his apartment and watch a movie like they used to. _

_"Come on, it'll be fun. I'll order pizza and pop the popcorn, and you can choose the movie. We can have a marathon!" he persuaded. _

_"Okay, but the rest of the girls won't be able to come until later tonight, they have class until six," she said, testing the waters. She didn't know exactly whether or not he had wanted this to be a group hang out kind of thing or whether it would be just them, and this was the most neutral response to find out._

_"How about it just be the two of us tonight? Toby went back home for the weekend, and I haven't gotten to spend time with you in weeks. I kind of miss one-on-one time with my best friend." _

_"Awe, Mr. Fitzgerald, you know exactly what to say to melt my heart," she said __tauntingly with a chuckle._

_"You used my full last name, now I'm not ordering you your vegan pizza."_

_"No, no! I'm sorry!" Aria exclaimed. "Okay, _Ezra_," she emphasized. "What time should I be there?"_

_.oOo._

_She stood on the doorstep of his apartment, heart pounding, waiting for him to open his door. Just as she was about to lift her hand to knock again, he swung the door open, a wide grin on his face. He enthusiastically pulled her into a hug, lifting her up a good few inches off the ground. _

_"You know," she said when he finally put her down, "that would've been really awkward if that had been the pizza delivery person."_

_His eyes widened. "Oh crap, I thought you _were_ the person delivering the pizza! This is awkward," he said, casting his eyes down in mock shame. _

_"Shut up!" she said, smacking his arm, both of them erupting in laughter. _

_"Come in," he said, moving out of the way to let her in. She threw her purse onto the chair in his living room, following him into the kitchen. "Food just finished right before you got here."_

_"What do you mean 'finished'? I thought you were ordering pizza." Ezra lifted the lid off of the pot on the stove, a delicious aroma immediately wafting through the entire apartment. "Oh my gosh, that smells incredible."_

_"I got the recipe from your mom. Your favorite- vegetable tagine with couscous," he said, pulling out two plates from the cabinet above him, immediately filling them with food. "I figured this might be enough to help make up for the fact that we haven't gotten to spend time together lately. What with classes and getting ready for graduation, I don't even have enough time to get a real meal in. So, I guess this is for me, too."_

_"Oh yeah, because I'm sure you would classify a meal that's completely vegan as 'real' for you," she scoffed. _

_"Okay," he admitted, pulling open the oven door, "I have a couple pieces of chicken in there for me." _

_"That's what I thought," she said with a laugh. She went to his fridge and grabbed two bottles of water, tucking them in the crook of her arm, then picked up her plate. "Come on, I've got a long list of movies in my pocket right now, and we should get started on them if we want to finish by morning."_

___.oOo._

_Hours later, the coffee table in front of them was strewn with empty plates, bottles of water, and various snacks- the telltale sign of a successful movie night. Aria stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "I'm going to put these dishes in the sink. You want anything?" she asked, beginning to clear the table. The apartment was dark, save for the light of the TV screen and the midnight moon streaming through the windows, basking the room with a soft glow._

_"Aria, you're my guest. Let me clean up! You just sit on the couch." Ezra immediately stood up, attempting to grab the plates from her hand._

_"No!" she said, turning her body away from him and making a run for the kitchen. _

_"Fine, but leave them in the sink. I'll do them later," he said, flipping on the light switch._

_"I guess," she acquiesced, placing the dishes carefully into the sink. She grabbed a cookie from the plate on his counter, breaking off a piece and popping it in her mouth._

_"You know that's not vegan, right?" Ezra said, picking up a cookie for himself. _

_"Tonight's an exception," she replied, reaching for his hand. "Let's go! There's still a few more movies on my list!" He grumbled, but didn't resist, shutting the lights back off in the kitchen._

_She yanked his hand, dragging him all the way from the kitchen back to the living room. "I should've turned on the lights in here," he mused. No sooner had the words left his lips, he heard a small bang, followed by a cry from Aria. _

_"Are you okay?" he exclaimed as she turned to face him, gripping her elbow to steady her._

_"I'm fine," she muttered through gritted teeth, hopping up and down on one foot. "Stupid coffee table." _

_She looked up at Ezra, "Thanks." Slowly, she stopped hopping, the pain in her foot subsiding. There was something different about the way he was looking at her, and she couldn't put her finger on what that was. _

_Before she knew what was happening, they both made a move- his hands were immediately on her waist pulling her closer to him, her hands tangled in his hair, mouths crushed together. She felt his tongue drag across her lower lip, and she parted her lips, allowing his tongue entrance. Their mouths melded together, moving in perfect synchronization. His lips dropped from hers, placing small kisses across her cheek, finding his way to that spot behind her ears that she loved, before finally making it to her neck. She tilted her head back allowing him more surface to cover, her hands trailing down his chest. _

_"Wow," Ezra breathed as they pulled apart after a few minutes, their foreheads leaned against each other, breathing ragged. _

_"Mmmhmm," Aria mumbled, her eyes closed, savoring the moment. Ever since she had realized she was in love with Ezra, she had imagined this moment, how it would be when they finally crossed the line from being friends to being more than friends. And reality was so much better than she could imagine. It was perfection._

_"So..."_

_"So," she repeated. "Now what?"_

_"I don't know," he admitted. He lifted his head from hers, looking at her. _Really_ looking at her. "But I do know that I've had feelings for you. For a while now. I just don't think I've ever fully realized them until now."_

_Aria opened her eyes, grinning at him. "I've had feelings for you for a while now, too." She wound her arms back around his neck and leaned her head onto his chest, feeling his arms naturally wrap around her waist. "Where does this leave us?"_

_"Are we an us?"_

_"Ezra, I think we've been an us since we were kids," she laughed. He rested his chin on the top of her head; he was close enough that she could smell the cologne he had spritzed on earlier that morning. _

_"Okay, so, we're an us," he repeated, testing out the words. _

_She nuzzled into him, "I like the sound of that."_

_"But," he hesitated, "no strings."_

* * *

"I know what I said."

"Really?" she glared, "Because it seems like you don't." She planted her hands on her hips, standing her ground. "You can't keep stringing me along, Ezra-"

"I'm not stringing you along!"

"-You can't tell me that we're free to see other people, and then get jealous when you see me with another guy! It doesn't work like that." Aria sighed and headed for the door. "I can't do this anymore."

"Do what anymore?" Ezra asked warily, following her.

"This," she said, stopping a foot short of the door and gesturing between them. "'No strings' obviously doesn't work for us, and I can't just be friends with you. I can't just try to keep my feelings in check whenever we spend time together. I've been doing that for the last four years, and I can't do it again."

She took a deep breath, willing herself to hold back the tears. "Maybe we just need to spend some time apart. Maybe some distance will do us good." She tilted her head up and kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

Right on time, Aria heard a key turn in the doorknob and the distinctive laughter of her four friends. "Everything good?" Caleb asked, Hanna hanging off of him as Toby pushed open the door. Emily, Spencer and Alison hung back, laughing hysterically at something one of them had said. He looked at Aria and Ezra suspiciously, but before he could ask questions, Ezra minutely shook his head. He'd explain things later.

"Yeah," Aria said, trying to discreetly wipe away a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Everything's good. I was just leaving." She lightly placed her hand on Ezra's arm, giving it a small squeeze, before turning to Caleb and Toby. "Do you guys mind walking us back to our dorm? It's kind of late, and I'm going to need help with Hanna."

"Of course," Toby said. He turned to Ezra, a look in his eye telling him they'd talk later. "We'll be back."

"Bye, Ezra," Aria said quietly, giving him a small smile. She followed everyone back out the door, closing it shut behind her, leaving Ezra all alone.

The silence was deafening.

* * *

"Thanks for the help, guys," Aria said, giving Caleb and Toby each a hug. "You guys should get back home, though. It's late."

"Don't worry about us," Toby said, a concerned look filling his face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Ezra and I are fine."

"I don't mean you and Ezra," he stressed, "I mean _you_. Are _you_ okay?"

Aria gave him a small smile. "I will be. I'm getting there."

Toby nodded, Caleb reaching out and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Stay strong. Let us know if you need anything; you know where to find us." He leaned in, whispering quietly into her ear, "Just so you know, we're on your side. Forget Ezra, you're a lot cooler than he ever will be."

Aria snickered and rolled her eyes, giving Caleb another hug. "I promise I won't ever tell him you said that." She waved goodbye to the two boys before shutting the door to their dorm.

All the girls were in their respective rooms, tucked under the blankets in their beds, fast asleep. The entire dorm was quiet as Aria collapsed onto the couch, lying down across it. Although her room was only a couple feet away, she was too exhausted from today's events that she couldn't even make it to her room.

She replayed her conversation with Ezra again in her mind. So he _was_ jealous of the fact that she was there with Noel. He had absolutely no right to be, he lost the privilege of being concerned with who she went out with when he suggested the whole 'no strings attached' thing in the first place. She knew his actions were out of pure jealousy, and not because he was afraid she'd do something stupid again. She stopped. Wait, again? What did he mean by _again_?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a series of small knocks on her door, probably Caleb or Toby forgetting something, she thought to herself. She peeked through the peephole as a precaution- this was still a college campus, after all, and you can't really trust anyone after midnight. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Ezra on the other side of the door, his face crestfallen.

"I thought I made it clear that we need space," she answered, opening the door a fraction of an inch, just small enough for her to see him.

"I never got to explain my reasoning," he replied, tucking his hands into the pocket of his Hollis hoodie. "Look, just let me explain everything, and then you can decide if you never want to see me again. I promise, if you say you want me to disappear, I will. Just, hear me out for a few minutes. Does that seem fair?"

She bit her lip, hand hovering on the doorknob. She sighed in resignation. "Fine. Just let me get changed really quick. We'll talk outside, everyone else is asleep." Ezra nodded and waited patiently for her to change into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt before she grabbed her lanyard off the hook next to the door and walked outside. She shut the door behind her, falling into step with him as he led the way to one of the picnic benches just outside of their building's dining hall.

"First," Aria started once they took their seats opposite each other, "Can I ask you something? Earlier you said you made me leave because you thought I had had a few drinks and you didn't want me doing something stupid 'again'. What did you mean by 'again'?"

Ezra tilted his head, studying her. "You really don't remember what happened at the last party?"

She shook her head 'no'. "I guess I broke rule number one and had a few too many cups of punch." She propped her left elbow on the table, resting her head on her hand. "What did I do that was so stupid?"

"You sure you want to know?" he asked carefully.

"I'm sure."

Ezra drew out a breath and launched into his story. "It started like this..."

* * *

_The party was in full blast with most people, including Aria, Hanna, Spencer, Emily and Alison, crammed together in the middle of the dance floor. The music from the giant speakers surrounding the room pulsated through, the bass rumbling the windows. The people in the crowd were otherwise indistinguishable, melding together in a mess of dance moves and jumping and fist pumping, faces only able to be seen when the lights drenched everyone in a rainbow of colors. _

_Ezra leaned on a wall in the front of the room, next to where the DJ was, keeping an eye on the girls. It was the first time that night that he had seen them, and he was proud of them that they had at least followed one of his rules and stuck together. So what if they had had a little more to drink than they should have? This was college, and it was probably better that they learned their limits now, while he was there to kind of supervise, than later on when something could happen to them. _

_He watched as Caleb and Toby made their way to the girls,__ acknowledging their __new dance partners. Caleb immediately gravitated towards Hanna, grabbing her hips from behind and pulling her close to him, their bodies moving in perfect __synchronization. Toby had taken to Spencer, their hands linked, jumping up and down in time with the beat, screaming along to the lyrics. Emily and Alison had also paired up, much to the delight of the guys surrounding them, laughing their heads off as they danced like no one was watching. Which left Aria alone, without a partner of her own. __He pushed himself off the wall and placed his drink on the table, heading towards Aria. _

_"Wanna dance?" _

_"Ezra!" Aria screamed, throwing her arms around him. He could already smell the alcohol on her breath. "Let's dance!"_

_She kept her arms around his neck, pressing herself up against him, throwing her head back as she lost herself in the music. They moved together well, their figures curving together, keeping up with the fast-paced beat of the dance music the DJ was mixing. She tucked her head in the crook of his neck, seemingly trying to get even closer to him than she already was. Ezra tried to keep his mind clear, reminding himself that this was Aria he was dancing with, and that he had a girlfriend. But it was a difficult task when she kept doing what she was doing, driving him crazy. _

_He closed his eyes as she spun around so that her back was against his chest, her hands holding his snugly against her hips. "You have a girlfriend, you have a girlfriend," he __repeated multiple times in his head, keeping himself from giving in to Aria. _

_"What's going on here?" he heard a voice yell. His eyes snapped open. Jackie. _

_The rage on her face was illuminated, and enhanced, by the red light streaming from the disco ball light next to the DJ stand. __"Get away from my boyfriend!" she yelled, grabbing Aria by the arm and yanking her away. By that time, everyone within the vicinity had witnessed what was happening and turned their full attention to the scene unravelling in front of them. The DJ had cut the music and someone had flipped on the lights, ensuring every move could be seen._

_"I knew I couldn't trust you."_

_Aria laughed, "Excuse me? What is your problem? Ezra and I were just dancing."_

_"Oh yeah," Jackie scoffed, "you were 'just dancing'. You looked like you were about ready to start stripping and give it up right there in the middle of the dance floor. Have some class, Aria." __The crowd erupted in a chorus of 'oooooooh's, everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves._

_"Have some class? You're not exactly the most classy person here," Aria retorted, looking Jackie up and down. "You might want to pull your dress down a little in the back, you're starting to flash."_

_"Aria," he warned. He didn't like where this was going, but he knew trying to stop it was a lost cause- neither Aria nor Jackie were one to give up a fight._

_"You're in love with him. You've always been in love with him," Jackie said, taking three steps slow, deliberate steps closer to Aria. "And you can't handle the fact that Ezra's with me, and you're just his _friend_. His _little sister_. You've never been anything more than that, and you never will be."_

_Aria took her own step towards Jackie, her face inches from hers. "So what if I have feelings for him? So what if I'm in love with him? So what if you're the one he's with? _For now_," she said snidely. She smirked, "You may be his girlfriend, but I'm always the one he'll choose. Every time."_

_Ezra felt a shiver run down his spine as the room fell silent, the tension between the two girls so thick it could be cut with a knife. They glared fiercely at each other, both refusing to give up. He needed to step in now, or it was about to get even uglier. _

_"Okay, enough," he said, pushing himself in between Aria and Jackie. _

_"I think it's time you sobered up,__" Jackie hissed. "Get out. You're not welcome in here ever again."_

_"Gladly," Aria replied. She turned on her heel, and strutted through the crowd of people who had parted to let her pass, the audible sound of the front door shutting forcefully a few seconds later reverberating through the now quiet house. _

_"You and me, we need to talk," Jackie said, walking away from Ezra and up the stairs. He stood in the center of the room, all eyes on him, completely embarrassed as to what had just happened. He ran a hand through his hair and followed Jackie, knowing nothing good could come from this conversation. He knew it was a bad idea bringing the girls to this party. _

* * *

"I admitted to the entire party that I was in love with you?" she screeched. "Oh my gosh, I'm never drinking again!" She covered her face in embarrassment. "So, you knew? All the way from that party until we kissed in your apartment, you knew I had feelings for you? You've known this entire time?"

"I did," Ezra replied. He rubbed the back of his neck, stressed again, trying to decide whether he wanted to tell her everything. "That night we kissed, I actually planned it. Not that we were going to kiss, but I planned to tell you how I felt that night. My professor had actually told my class at the beginning of the semester that that particular lecture was going to be cancelled, so I thought it was going to be the perfect night. I was going to make you your favorite meal, get your favorite snacks, make sure all of your favorite movies were ready to go- Toby even knew about this plan, which is why he was conveniently out of town."

"Wait, I'm confused. If you knew I had feelings for you, and you had feelings for me, and you went through all that trouble planning that night, why ruin it with telling me you wanted no strings?"

He took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. "Aria, you're a first year. I'm a fourth year. I'm about to graduate."

"So, it's because I'm too young?" she asked, thoroughly confused. He reached out his hands across the table, taking hers in his.

"It's not that you're too young, but it's because you're _still_ young. You still have three more years of college to go. That's three more years of meeting new people, of partying, of going out on random blind dates, of new experiences. And you should be able to experience that without someone, especially a boyfriend, holding you back."

He stopped, gauging her reaction before starting again. "I've already experienced all of that-"

"-You've been on random blind dates?" Aria interrupted. She looked at him incredulously.

"Multiple. Don't forget to try online dating at least once while you're here. It's definitely a strange adventure," he chuckled.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"But, going back to what I was saying. I've already had all my fun here. The last four years I've been here have been the best years of my life. I've been able to try new things, grow, learn about myself- I just want you to be able to have that. I want you to be able to go out with your friends on the weekends and not have to worry about canceling plans for dinner with me. I want you to be able to flirt with the guy from your class without feeling guilty that you're cheating on me. I want you to be able to have fun and not worry about me, because I've already had my fun. I'm graduating in less than a month, it's time for me to get out into the real world. It's not fair to make you give up opportunities for a boyfriend who isn't even here, who you won't be able to see almost every day."

"And that's why you said no strings," she said, the realization of why he did what he did finally hitting her.

"I wanted you to be free, but I was also selfish and I wanted to be able to call you mine. Which is why I said no strings. I thought, that way, you could still go out and see whomever you chose, but we would still be together, if that even makes any sense. You were always going to be it for me, I was never going to see anyone else but you for as long as you wanted. I just didn't want you eventually resenting me for tying you down and holding you back."

"Ezra, you've had me tied down, in the best way possible of course, for more than ten years now. You've always been the only one for me, and look, I've been able to experience anything I've ever wanted to. I've grown. I've lived. You've never held me back, not once. If anything, you helped push me forward." She smiled at him, ready to state her case for them. "I could never resent you for being my boyfriend. For the last four years, that's all I've ever wanted."

"You say you won't resent me now, but what about next year when you're talking to a guy from another one of your English classes and he asks you out, and you have to turn him down because you already have a boyfriend? What then?"

"Even if you weren't my boyfriend, I would still turn him down, because he's not _you_," she said. She squeezed his hands, "Why can't you just have faith in us? That we can do this?"

"I do have faith in us. I just don't want you to hate me."

"I could never hate you."

Aria could see his resolve wavering, his guard slowly being knocked down. She watched curiously as he let go of her hands, getting up and walking around the table, standing to face her. "Are you sure about this? I don't think I could forgive myself if I kept you from the full college experience."

"Ezra, I'm sure. I want this. I want _you_. Only you."

"Okay, then." He pulled out his phone and scrolled through a list quickly, clicking once he found what he was looking for. He held his hand out to her as the familiar strains of a song poured out of the speakers.

"'Little Do You Know'," Aria said, a look of nostalgia on her face. "I still love this song."

"This was the last dance of your prom night. It's also our first dance as an official couple."

"How appropriate," she said, taking a hold of his hand, getting on her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck, he rested his chin comfortably on the top of her head. "You will always be my first dance _and_ my last dance." They swayed together, the lampposts radiating light onto the exact spot where they danced, almost as if a spotlight was on them.

"You've got to be kidding me," she heard Ezra say, seconds later.

"What?" she asked, pulling her head away to look at him. She heard the unmistakable sound right before she felt the water fall on her.

"We never did have much luck with sprinklers!" he spoke loudly, straining to be heard over the sound of water falling heavily on the ground around them.

"No, we never did," she giggled.

Ezra removed one of his hands from her waist, bringing it up to cup her cheek. "Are you sure about this?" he asked her one more time, giving her one last chance to back out.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

Ezra obliged, their lips connecting in a sweet kiss. They didn't rush, they had all the time in the world. They didn't care that the people who happened to be walking around them were staring, wondering who in their right mind would stand directly next to sprinklers with water raining down on them, they just enjoyed the fact that they were together. Just them and no one else.

* * *

**A/N: The plan was always to have it end here and tie up everything with an epilogue, but, like I said, I'm second guessing actually ending it. So, there are two choices, and I'm leaving it up to you all to decide.  
****One: I can end with this chapter, I post the epilogue sometime within this week.  
****Two: I can keep going, BUT it's going to be a few weeks before I post again. I didn't intend for this story to even go _this_ long, but I'm amazingly grateful it did, and I need time to figure out where to go from here.  
****I'm totally fine with it going either way. I'd love to keep going, there are a few ideas I've been toying with and kind of want to explore, I just don't want to leave you guys hanging or make it seem like this is dragging on. So, I'm leaving it to you to make the decision. Leave me a review telling me what you think I should do. (:  
****- J**


	6. A New Beginning

**Full (LONG) author's note at the end.  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the words.

* * *

"Aria? ARIA! Wake up!"

"Mmm...ten more minutes," Aria mumbled, turning and burying her head further into her pillow. She pulled the covers around her tighter around her body, burrowing herself into her warm bed. Considering it had been well past two in the morning before she finally made it back to her dorm, still soaking wet, nonetheless, she felt she was entitled to sleep in today. Besides, it was a Sunday, and her professor had extended the deadline on her paper, so it wasn't as if she really had anything to do this morning.

She heard the female sitting on the edge of her bed sigh. "Hey, she's refusing to wake up. Maybe in ten minutes?" Silence. "Yep. Bye, Ezra."

It took a moment for Aria's sleepy mind to process what was happening, racing into action once she heard the familiar sound of her iPhone's end call button. Immediately she shot up, reaching for her cell. "Ezra? That was Ezra? I'm awake, I'm awake!" She groaned, clamping a hand over her eyes, head dropping back down onto her pillow. "Spence, you opened the curtains? Seriously? The sun is literally burning into my eyes right now."

"Ezra was calling incessantly this morning, and I couldn't handle it anymore. I was forced to leave _my own_ bed this morning to answer _your _phone, so I figured opening your curtains would be the best form of payback," Spencer replied with a smirk, tossing Aria's phone onto her pillow, narrowly missing her head. She flinched involuntarily, knowing how much that would've hurt had that actually hit her. "Speaking of which, do you want to explain to me why Ezra was calling in the first place?"

Aria pulled her blanket up once more, covering her face, as memories of last night's developments flooded back through her mind. Her and Ezra. Together. Exclusive. She bit her lip, attempting to hide the wide grin creeping up on her lips. "Aria Montgomery, did something happen with you two?!" Spencer asked, snapping back Aria's blanket once more.

Aria peeked out at Spencer through her fingers, her smile full-blown. "Maybe...," she answered cryptically.

"Oh my gosh!" Spencer exclaimed, smacking her with a pillow Aria had kicked onto the floor last night. "Something happened!" She stood up and made her way to the door, pointing at Aria's closet. "You have five minutes to get dressed; you're going to tell me EVERYTHING."

"How are you not hungover right now?"

"I am. Which is why I'm only giving you five minutes to get dressed," Spencer laughed. "You're buying me breakfast to make up for making me get up and answer your phone."

"Greasy diner food?" Aria asked, knowing exactly the cure for Spencer's hangover. Especially considering it had helped her out of her own funk every once in a while, unlike the rest of the girls, who just slept off their hangovers. It was one of the many things Aria and Spencer shared in common.

"Greasy diner food," Spencer agreed, pulling open the door and heading out. "Don't forget to be quiet; Alison, Hanna and Emily are still asleep."

* * *

Spencer and Aria found themselves at their favorite diner just a few miles off campus twenty minutes later, making themselves comfortable in a booth tucked in the back. Thankfully, Spencer had waited until they had at least placed their orders and gotten their cups of coffee before delving into her questions. And luckily, she hadn't even gotten the first one out of her mouth before the sound of Aria's ringing cell phone interrupted her.

"Hello?" Aria answered, relieved that she could get at least a few more minutes to compose herself.

"Hey!" Ezra said cheerfully. "I know Spencer said to call after ten minutes, but I figured thirty would give her enough time to get you out of bed and get some food in your stomach."

She laughed, ignoring Spencer's curious looks over the cup of coffee she was sipping. "We're at Joe's right now."

"Greasy diner food, the perfect hangover cure," Ezra replied knowingly. "I've been known to frequent there the mornings after parties. Tell her to make sure she orders a side of chili cheese fries. Sounds weird, but it works wonders. People swear it's magic."

"Ezra says to order the chili cheese fries. Something about it being the magical hangover cure," Aria relayed to Spencer, covering up the mouthpiece. She laughed as Spencer immediately called over a waitress and added it to their order. "It better be magical," Aria turned her attention back to Ezra, "because if not, you're going to pay for calling me repeatedly and making her get up to answer my phone."

"Trust me, it's magic."

"So...," she trailed off, "Why _did_ you call me this morning?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight."

"A date? I don't know, I'll have to ask my boyfriend first," she said, eyes on Spencer. She clamped her lips shut in an attempt to keep from laughing as she watched Spencer's eyes go wide and jaw drop open, thankful that Spencer had just swallowed the coffee in her mouth, or it would probably be all over Aria by now.

"I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind," Ezra teased. It took Aria all the strength in her body to keep from losing it right there, what with Spencer wildly gesturing and throwing her arms everywhere like a crazy person. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Seven sounds perfect. See you then." She whispered goodbye to Ezra before ending the call and turning to Spencer.

"You and Ezra?" Spencer asked cautiously.

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Last night."

"But," Spencer hesitated, "are you together together?"

"Yes," Aria said confidently. "We agreed to only see each other. No one else. No more 'no strings'."

"But, how?"

Aria took a deep breath before launching into her story. "I kind of got into an argument with Jackie last night, and Ezra pulled me away before any real damage could be done. We went to his apartment and talked, _really_ talked, and he admitted that he was jealous of seeing me at the party with Noel."

"You were right, the whole Noel thing would make him jealous and make him commit."

"Yes and no," Aria admitted. "That's not the entire reason he committed. It was a part of it, yes, but not all." She paused to gauge Spencer's reaction. "He said he was actually committed to me all along. I was always going to be the only person he dated. He only suggested a no strings thing because he didn't want me to lose out on the whole college experience- being able to date whom I wanted, party, go out when I wanted."

"He didn't want to hold you back."

"Exactly," Aria said, taking a sip of her own coffee.

"Wow," Spencer breathed. "I knew he wouldn't pull something stupid like that unless he had ulterior motives. He would never hurt you."

"And I know that now," Aria said. At that moment, their server came back with their plates full of pancakes, eggs, various breakfast meats, hash browns and, of course, the plate of chili cheese fries. The two took that as their chance to situate and pull themselves together after Aria spilled her news.

"Well," Spencer said, spearing a few fries onto her fork and popping them into her mouth, "make sure you tell Ezra on your date tonight that he was right, these fries are the magical hangover cure."

Aria smiled at her friend across the table. "Don't worry, I will." She picked up a piece of bacon, biting into the crispy piece of meat, much to Spencer's amusement. "What?"

"You know that's not vegan, right?"

"Oh, please. I've barely been able to keep up being a vegetarian these last few years." Aria scoffed, popping the rest of the bacon in her mouth. "Besides, what can I say? College is all about new experiences."

* * *

At exactly seven, there were three knocks on the door of their dorm suite. "Are you guys expecting anyone?" Emily asked Alison and Hanna, breaking out of her trance. The three of them were sitting on the couch in their living room, where they had been for the last five hours, binge watching all the newest episodes of their favorite show. She paused the show as Alison and Hanna shook their heads 'no', standing up and heading for the door.

"Ezra?" She looked down and spotted him holding a bouquet of Aria's favorite flowers- blush pink peonies. "What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously, Alison and Hanna leaning over the back of the couch, watching him curiously.

"Aria didn't tell you? I'm picking her up for our date tonight," he answered with the raise of an eyebrow. It wasn't like Aria, or Spencer, for that matter, to keep something from their best friends.

"Date?!" the three girls exclaimed in unison. Right on cue, Spencer and Aria walked out of Aria's room in the back of the suite, laughing.

Aria stopped short, taking in the scene of Emily standing at the open door with Ezra holding flowers, Hanna and Alison on the couch looking shellshocked. She chuckled, making her way to Ezra, "You guys didn't invite him in? How rude of you!" she playfully admonished the three. "I'm sorry about them, they're probably just not used to my boyfriends coming to our door," she said with a wink.

"That makes more sense," Ezra laughed lightly. He handed her the bouquet in his hands, "For you. I believe these are your favorite."

"They're beautiful." Aria stood on her tip toes, stretching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. She took them graciously and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the sweet floral scent.

"I'll be sure to get these in water and put them in your room," Spencer said, taking the flowers from Aria's hands. "You guys should go. Don't want to be late for whatever Ezra has planned."

"Wait," Hanna said, finally finding her voice. "Boyfriend? When did this happen?!"

"Bye, guys," Aria laughed, grabbing her purse off of the hook next to the door. "I promise Ezra will have me home before midnight."

Ezra took her hand in his, leading her out of her dorm, the squeals of four girls being heard before the slamming shut of the door. "So," Aria started, "where are you taking me?"

He intertwined their fingers together. "It's a surprise," he replied vaguely.

They walked a few minutes in silence, making their way to the campus parking lot. Aria walked up to Ezra's familiar Toyota Camry, standing next to the passenger side door, expecting him to beep the car open. However, Ezra kept walking, stopping in front of an also familiar cherry red BMW M3 convertible parked a few spots down.

"We're taking Caleb's car? Why?" Aria asked curiously as Ezra opened up the passenger side door for her, sliding in.

Ezra said nothing, smiling as he got into the driver's seat, turning the key in the ignition. Knowing she wasn't going to get anything from him, she leaned back into her seat, getting comfortable. No matter what he had planned for tonight, she was sure she was going to love it.

* * *

"This is amazing," Aria breathed, the words falling off her lips not enough to describe the scene in front of her.

Ezra drove easily on the highway heading towards Philadelphia, the sun setting directly in front of them, painting the sky a gorgeous mixture of pinks, oranges, blues and purples. The few clouds that hung over created the perfect dark contrast to the vibrant colors, the two combining together to form the perfect sunset. Surprisingly for a Sunday, there were no other cars on the road, leaving Aria and Ezra the highway all to themselves.

"How much further to Philadelphia?" she asked.

"About twenty minutes," Ezra answered back.

"Perfect." She reached over to the volume knob on the stereo, the guitar strains of Landon Austin's "Once in a Lifetime" filling the air around them, and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Aria," Ezra warned, his voice tensed. "Don't do it."

"I promise I'll be careful." Aria stuck her tongue out at him; Ezra sighed. Knowing there was no way he could talk her out of what she was about to do, he eased off of the gas pedal, slowing down the car to a speed safe for what she was about to do. He kept his eyes on the road as Aria kicked off her boots, knowing better than to scratch Caleb's precious car, and pulled her feet up onto the seat. She braced both hands on the armrests, and, carefully, pushed herself up until she was sitting on the headrest.

"Don't stay up there for too long, I don't want the cops to catch us."

* * *

_The popping sound of the bottle of s__parkling __apple cider opening brought along __with it squeals and laughter from the eight teens sitting inside the limo. Wesley quickly poured a bit of the bubbly drink into each persons' glass, starting with Spencer and making his way around the circle of outstretched glasses until everyone had their share. He placed the bottle back into the ice bucket next to him as Aria cleared her throat. _

_"To one of the best friends anyone could ever have. Happy birthday, Spencer!" _

_"Happy birthday, Spencer!" everyone chorused, raising their glasses and tipping them towards her in cheers. _

_It was the weekend of Spencer's 16th birthday, and her parents had flown her, Aria, Alison, Hanna, Emily, Ezra, Wesley and Mike out to New York City for an adventure on the town. That night, her parents had rented out a limo for their use, with the strict instructions to go straight from their hotel to Mamma Mia on Broadway, then out for dinner wherever they chose- they were not to be back at the hotel before midnight. It was the first time their parents had trusted them to go out on their own, and the first time they were truly free, and they were determined to make the most of it._

_They had all just piled back into the limo after the show and were headed to grab burgers from Shake Shack in Madison Square Park and then frozen hot chocolate and ice cream sundaes from Serendipity 3, when Hanna suddenly started searching around her. _

_"Hey, does anyone know where the button for the roof is?" Hanna asked, suddenly stopping when she found exactly what she was looking for. "Aha!" She smiled brightly, pushing down the button._

_The whooshing sound of the New York night air suddenly occupying the new space inside the limo startled Aria, who grabbed her chest in a feeble attempt to slow down her racing heartbeat. "Hanna!" she chided, "That scared the crap out of me!"_

_"Sorry," she mumbled with not a single ounce of remorse before gingerly pushing herself off of the seat and into the middle of the seating space. _

_"What are you doing?" Spencer asked cautiously as everyone watched Hanna hold her arms out trying to steady herself, considering the limo was moving at a relatively fast pace down the street. _

_Hanna said nothing, other than a "finally" when the limo momentarily stopped moving at a red light. "Oh no, don't," Wesley warned, realizing what she was up to when she winked at them and hoisted herself up and through the now open roof, bracing herself. _

_While she was horrified at the sight of Hanna sticking her head out the roof, Aria couldn't help but be jealous of Hanna's courage and spontaneity. She wouldn't normally readily admit it, but she wanted to be a little more like Hanna, spend a little more time on the wild side. So when Hanna called out, "Guys! Come on, the view is amazing out here!", she bit her lip and waited for the limo to stop before she hoisted herself off of her seat next to Ezra and up through the roof beside Hanna._

_Hanna momentarily let go and hugged Aria, immediately grabbing onto the roof when she lurched forward, the limo moving back into motion. _"_She was right," Aria thought, "this view is amazing." _

_The city was quiet and sparkling, full of life, and yet, still so calm and peaceful. "It's Spencer's birthday!" Aria screamed, surprising herself, giggling as she seemingly broke the silence. Hanna looked at her, amazed that the normally semi-quiet Aria was the one who joined her, hanging out of the roof of a moving limo, screaming out into the night. _

_"It's Spencer's birthday!" Hanna echoed, letting out a small scream. Aria and Hanna took turns yelling, drawing the attention of all the people walking along the streets. "Spencer, Emily, get up here!"_

_Inside the limo, Spencer and Emily looked at each other and, although the guys were warning them not to do it, at the next red light, they climbed out of their seats and crammed next to Aria and Hanna, whooping and yelling, telling everyone and anyone that it was Spencer's birthday, drawing attention to themselves and having the time of their lives. _

_Until they were a few hundred feet from the Shake Shack and the limo came to a screeching stop due to a few flashing red and blue lights coming from a police car behind them. _

_"Girls, you know it's illegal to stick your heads out of the roof of a limo, correct?" The policeman approached them, shining a flashlight at the girls to get a better view of their stunned faces._

_"No," the girls replied feebly, looking any which way except at the policeman standing on the sidewalk next to the limo. _

_They watched as he pulled out a thick pad of paper and a pen. "Now normally, this would get all of you and your driver tickets." Aria felt the blood drain from her face. The first time their parents let them out of Rosewood by themselves and they immediately go out and get tickets? They were never going to be allowed the leave the house again, she was sure of it. "But," the officer continued on, "since I heard it's a certain Spencer's birthday-"_

_"This is Spencer," Emily interrupted, pointing her out, much to Spencer's embarrassment. _

_"Since it's Spencer's birthday," the policeman continued, smiling at the girls, "I'm going to let you off the hook."_

_"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the girls repeated over and over again as the policeman laughed. _

_"I remember what it was like to be a teenager out with friends and out of my parents' sight for a night. I myself have gotten into a fair bit of trouble in my younger days, and it would be a little hypocritical to give you all a fine for having fun."_

_"Thank you again so much, officer," Aria said, breathing a sigh of relief that they weren't getting in trouble._

_"This is a one time deal," he warned. "Just don't let it happen again." There was a twinkle in his eye as he shut off his flashlight, tucking away his pad of paper and pen, beginning to walk back to his police car. "And Spencer," he stopped, turning back to them, "Happy birthday." With a wink, he got into his car and shut off the lights, starting his it once more and leaving the scene. _

_"We just got so lucky," Hanna exclaimed as they sank back into their seats, closing the roof. Aria let her head drop backwards, resting against the window, breathing in deeply and releasing it slowly. She could feel a smile creeping on her face. _

_That was the most free she had ever felt in her life._

* * *

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aria tightly grip the seat on either side of her, then close her eyes and tilt her head back, her chocolate brown hair whipping gracefully in the wind. In that moment, Ezra could swear that there was no more perfect girl for him in the world. He quickly turned and snuck a peek at her, smiling at the look of total peace and euphoria on her face. Focusing on the road again, he heard her "woooo!" and then break out into a peal of laughter.

He let her stay up there for a bit longer before his nervousness got the better of him. "Okay, time to get down. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you before we even get to our date." He sighed in relief when he heard her plop back into her seat, slipping on her boots and zipping them back up.

She leaned over the center console and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "There, I'm safe."

He waited for the click of her seatbelt before reaching over and taking her hand in his again, smiling as she started to sing along to the song. The song was right; maybe she was his "once in a lifetime".

* * *

"This is where you're taking me for our date?" Aria asked, taking in the sights around her. The sound of screaming children, the bright flashing lights and smell of fried food almost overwhelmed her. "You took me to a carnival? Aren't we a little old for the carnival?"

"Nope," Ezra replied, lacing his fingers in between hers. "You can never be too old for the carnival."

"Good," she said, a wide grin splitting on her face. She immediately pulled his hand towards the food tents. "Now let's try some of this greasy food that's constantly being featured on those food and travel channels. I want to see what all the buzz is about."

Three hours, twenty games of Skeeball (Aria insisted they try to earn the tickets needed to win the massive teddy bear instead of buying it at the next tent over), ten different varieties of food, one ride each on the carousel, Tilt-A-Whirl and roller coaster, and one slide down the gigantic slide in potato sacks later, Aria and Ezra found themselves with cups of coffee on the Ferris Wheel at the peak. The rest of the carnival stretched out below them, blurring into blobs of bright colors and sounds.

Aria clutched her cup with both hands in an attempt to warm herself up even just a little bit, snuggling herself into Ezra's side. "Thanks for tonight," she mumbled happily.

She felt Ezra lift his arm up to down the rest of his coffee before placing the cup on the floor, wrapping his arm around her. "You're very welcome."

The two of them sat in perfect silence for a while, relishing in the feeling of being in each other's company. Aria scooted herself even closer to Ezra, if that was even possible, and he responded by tightening his grip around her, absentmindedly rubbing his hand up and down her arm. She knew he probably thought she was just cold, but in fact, there were more pressing matters in her mind.

Like the fact that he would be graduating in a month and a half. They would have a month and a half together before he graduated and real life took over and he would leave her. She knew that he still didn't have any plans for what to do after graduation, let alone what his plans would be for the summer. He would be a full fledged adult with an actual job and bills to pay, and she would still be a simple college student who went home on the weekends so that her mom could do her laundry and make a home cooked meal.

"Hey, Ezra?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

She turned to look up at him, his eyes closed, looking peaceful. "We're going to be okay, right? I mean, you're going to be graduating soon and probably moving away from Hollis and away from your family in Rosewood and getting a job..."

"Aria, stop." He sighed, still not opening his eyes. "We've been friends for how many years now? We've made it through elementary school, middle school, high school and college. I've moved away. I've had jobs. And we made it through all of that. We may not know what the future holds, but trust me, if we can make it through that, we can make it through anything."

Aria was silent as she absorbed his words. Maybe he was right, maybe they would be able to make it through.

"Hey, Ezra?" she whispered again. He hummed in response, twirling a stray tendril of her hair between his fingers. "We're going to be okay?" She repeated her original question, needing to hear his answer again.

"We'll be okay," he assured her.

"Okay." Aria leaned her head on Ezra's shoulder, casting her eyes up into the dark night sky. "We'll be okay."

* * *

**A/N: I've been debating for the last week as to whether or not I really wanted to continue this. While I am thoroughly thankful for all of your guys' opinions on whether I should continue, in the end it ultimately boiled down to the fact that a few days ago, I woke up and thought about how weird it was that I didn't have anything to post. I was itching to write again. I didn't feel like my Aria and Ezra in this story had finished their journey quite yet, and there were a few loose ends to tie up.  
Long story short, I will be continuing this. I don't know how many more chapters there'll be, but there will be a few more before the final epilogue. I'm still taking a few weeks away after this to outline and figure out where exactly I'm going to take this story, so it'll be a while until the next update. But, until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Think of it as the happy beginning of a new chapter in Aria and Ezra's life.  
Also, almost 100 reviews! I never thought I would get that many reviews on this story so quickly, and I am SO thankful to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/has an alert out for this story! So, please keep reviewing, nothing makes me happier than seeing a new review (especially those lengthy ones! Haha). And plus, reviews drive me to write more. (;  
I'm excited to see where this goes next, and I hope you guys all are, too!  
- J**


	7. Meeting the Parents

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the words.

* * *

Aria sat at a table in the quad on a Friday morning, furiously scribbling on a typed copy of a rough draft of her paper for her Intro to Gender and Sexuality lecture. She had signed up for the class at the beginning of the semester after hearing it was a class in which receiving an A was effortless, and considering there were no discussion sections and they only met once a week, she couldn't pass up on the prospect of a GPA boost. However, what she hadn't counted on was the fact that, while an A was well within her reach for now, her professor was infuriating, speaking in circles, never once answering the questions the students posed. When Aria had visited her professor's office hours, she had been less than helpful, further confusing Aria as to what the prompt of their final paper was. As the days passed and Aria spent hour after hour flicking her eyes back and forth from the prompt to her blank word document, the flashing cursor taunting her.

Aria groaned, about a split second away from chucking her red pen across the quad, when she sensed a body come up behind her, a pair of hands placing two large coffee cups on the table before strongly covering her eyes. She nearly shivered when the mystery person dropped their head to her shoulder, their lips almost grazing her earlobe as they whispered, "Guess who?"

She bit her lip, a smile tugging up at the corners. "Why, Spencer, your voice seems to have deepened quite a bit overnight!" She heard Ezra laugh as he uncovered her eyes, planting a quick kiss on her cheek before taking the seat next to her. "And you look like Ezra now, too!"

"Oh yeah, Ezra and I are twins, didn't he tell you? I'm actually a guy, just disguising myself as a girl to get in with you and learn all of your dirty little secrets," Ezra shot back sarcastically, speaking as if this was actually the truth. Aria chuckled in response. "So," he began, taking a long drag of coffee from his cup, "what are you up to this fine morning?"

"My professor for G&S wants us to turn in a self-edited rough draft of our paper for class today. You know, she told us last class that she decided against a final exam and said this would be replacing it, meaning it's worth 50% of our final grade? It would help if she would just tell us exactly what she wants from us, but no, she had to go and make the prompt all vague and not concretely answer any questions," Aria ranted, picking up the cup situated next to her notebook and took a sip, noticeably calming as the warm liquid flowed over her tongue.

"Let me see that," he said, quickly grabbing the papers before she could protest. He scanned through the words quickly, taking in the bright red pen marks covering the page. "Aria, you barely have anything left! It's all either scratched out or replaced with..." he squinted, attempting to make out her chicken scratch, "acronyms?"

She frowned, snatching back her papers. "There's not enough space to write in the margins, so I made up acronyms to remember what to replace things with."

"You're strange. I don't know why I ever agreed to date you."

"Because that's exactly the reason why you like me," Aria retorted, the smile returning to her lips.

"I guess," he sighed dramatically, leading her to smack him hard on his arm.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Aria couldn't help but be pleased at how quickly they had fallen into the routine of being in a real relationship. In all honesty, nothing much had changed from the way they used to be before, they still called and texted each other often, they still spent much of their free time together, their groups of friends had already meshed together, so there really wasn't a reason for everything to _not_ feel normal.

And yet, there was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere between them. It was all in the little things, those subtle changes. Ezra had a penchant for surprising her with coffee at the moments when she needed them most, and just as big of a penchant for gentle kisses placed in her hair, her cheek, her hand and, on occasion, a brush on her lips. Aria, on the flip side, loved being able to hold his hand with their fingers intertwined. There was something so much more intimate about feeling his hand wrapped tightly and strongly with hers, instead of just the way his hand used to cup hers, the space between their palms large enough to fit an object in. But not anymore.

"Okay, do you have the prompt?" he asked, breaking her from her thoughts. She nodded, reaching into her bag to pull out her binder, fishing out the sheet of white paper with words that could only be loosely, at best, be described as the prompt. She watched as his eyes drifted over the words, nodding every few sentences. "This is the same prompt I got when I took G&S two years ago. I got an A on mine, I can email you my final draft so you can look it over and get some ideas."

"Seriously?"

"Of course. I mean, I doubt you're really going to need it, considering I'm sure your paper is fine the way it is, but if you need something to refer back to, mine is there for the taking." He paused, looking at her red inked essay. "And don't take the self-editing too seriously. Professor Wilson just doesn't have anything planned for this week, so she uses this class to teach a 'life lesson'. She'll make you trade your rough drafts and then tear them to shreds, literally, saying you all need to learn to let go of your 'imperfections', or something to that effect. It's not even worth it, because after you rip up your papers, she ends class early."

"I definitely owe you for this." Aria grinned, throwing her pen down onto the table and pushing the essay as far away from her as possible, a large weight lifted off her shoulders. "Now that I don't have to worry too much about this rough draft, I have thirty minutes free before class. What's up?"

"I was planning to go home this weekend, and I was wondering if you were, too," Ezra asked nonchalantly.

Aria pulled out her iPhone and clicked on her calendar, looking at what her plans were for the weekend. "Surprisingly, I have nothing planned. I didn't tell my parents I was going home this weekend, but it's probably fine."

"You know what this weekend is, right?"

"No," she replied slowly, questioningly. "Should I?"

"Our parents are having their weekly catch up dinner tomorrow. They had to postpone Wednesday's because of a faculty meeting, remember?"

"Oh," Aria drew out, realizing what that meant. "So, if we go home this weekend, we'll be roped into going to the dinner."

Ezra propped his elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Have you told your family about us?"

Aria dropped her eyes to the table shamefully. Two weeks. They had been in a relationship for two full weeks now and she still had yet to inform her parents that her and Ezra were in fact a _her and Ezra_. It wasn't that she was ashamed of him, in fact, she was incredibly proud to be in a relationship with him. She didn't take for granted the wistful, sometimes jealous looks of the girls whenever they walked by arm in arm to class. And it wasn't that her parents never brought him up in their phone calls, her mother actually always subtly managed to slip him into their conversations. So why hadn't she told them yet? To be honest, she didn't know why.

"Have you told _your_ family about us?" she countered, actively evading the question. She noticed as his eyes flicked down for a split second, then look back up at her, guarded. "You haven't!" she exclaimed.

"You haven't told yours, either!" Ezra retorted weakly. Aria crossed her arms over her chest; she wasn't going to be the first to break the news of their dating to their parents, he would be. When he responded with a sigh, she knew the message had gotten through clearly to him. "Okay, how about this for a compromise: we both go to our parents' dinner tomorrow night. I'll drive us today after your last class, that way we at least have the entire car ride to prepare."

She contemplated this for a moment. "You know, we're making this seem like it's such a horrible thing, telling our parents. I mean, it's not as if we're telling them we're dating random people. At least our families already know each other, already know us, and get along. It really shouldn't be this difficult."

"Yeah, but you know them. They'll probably make a big deal of it anyway." Ezra stood up, downing the rest of the coffee in his cup and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "So, I'll pick you up after class?"

"If you're right about Professor Wilson letting us out after the whole paper shredding thing, I'll probably be done by noon. Pick me up at 1? I still need to pack." Ezra nodded and leaned down, giving her a quick peck on the lips, pulling away much too soon for her liking.

"I'll be there at one. Until then, try not to roll your eyes too much at Professor Wilson's ramblings?"

Aria smirked. "No promises," she replied with a laugh. She picked up her red pen again and pulled her paper back to her. "Go, go. I'll see you at one." With a wave of her hand, and a small laugh from Ezra, he was off.

She rubbed her forehead with her left hand as she stared down at her paper, not really paying attention to the words, her mind more preoccupied with the unavoidable conversation she'd be having with her family, and Ezra's family, in a little more than twenty four hours.

* * *

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Aria asked nervously, looking down at their intertwined fingers. Ezra had just parked his car in his driveway after picking her up from the Montgomery house.

Aria had been able to bide her time, moving at a snail's pace to get ready for dinner that her parents, frustrated by being forced to wait for her for so long, immediately accepted the idea of having Ezra swing by the house to pick her up when she was ready, since he was conveniently at the bakery nearby, picking up dessert. She couldn't just walk into his house with her parents and then see him and have to pretend to act totally normal, like they were still just friends. She needed him beside her to calm her nerves before she walked into the unknown.

"Relax," Ezra soothed, placing a kiss in her hair as they continued walking up his driveway. "You said it yourself, we shouldn't have anything to worry about. If anything, our parents know that this has been a long time coming." He felt Aria's death grip on his hand loosen a bit.

He looked down to find her face upturned towards his, her face questioning. "But, how do you know?" Ezra's mind rushed backwards.

* * *

_"__No more crackers, please!" Aria begged hoarsely, her eyes pleading with his to stop the force feeding of the only thing she had been able to keep down in almost a week. She was tucked in a cocoon of blankets on her queen bed, her room dark, so not to further escalate her already pounding headache. It hurt to see her feeling so down, and it hurt even more that he had no idea just how sick she was until that day._

_When he walked into the cafeteria of Rosewood High on Monday earlier that week with a few of his friends during their lunch break, his eyes routinely falling to the table where he normally found Aria and the other girls sitting, only to be greeted with the sight of four girls instead of the normal five, he thought nothing of it. He knew she had a tendency to skip lunches to spend time in the library if it meant that she had other work to finish. _

_When he walked in on Tuesday and his eyes drifted over to the table, seeing, once again, only four girls, his brow furrowed in confusion. It wasn't like her to skip spending her lunch break with her friends two days in a row. He suddenly felt the heavy weight of his phone in his pocket, and he counted back the days since he had last heard from her. Friday. The last time he had talked to her was Friday last week. That was an awfully long time to go without them speaking, considering they rarely went more than an hour or two without at least a text. But still, he brushed it off. Maybe she just had a lot of work. Or maybe it was an extended field trip. Or maybe she was just playing hooky. If something were seriously wrong, he'd hear about it, he reasoned with himself. _

_When he walked in on Wednesday and again only saw four girls instead of five, he grew more and more concerned. "Where's Aria?" he had asked the four girls, sitting at their table in the seat normally reserved for her. He watched as the four girls looked at each other, wondering whether or not they should disclose the information he knew they had. After a moment, he saw them all nod minutely at one another. Emily __began to open her mouth and speak when all of a sudden, the fire alarm went off, the screeching noise reverberating annoyingly off the walls of the cafeteria. The students all quickly began to scurry out of the building, and Ezra groaned in frustration, losing Aria's friends in the chaos. _

_When he arrived home late that afternoon, he had resigned himself to finding out what was going on with Aria all on his own. However, confusion set in his mind, taking over for his current thoughts of what everyone could be hiding about Aria, when he found his parents relaxing comfortably on their couch, engrossed in __watching a historical documentary on TV, glasses of wine and an open pizza box on the coffee table in front in front of them. "Planning on serving cold, leftover pizza for dinner tonight?" he asked, knowing they had their customary weekly dinner date with the Montgomerys. Normally by this time, his mother was already in the kitchen beginning the cooking process. _

_Ezra's father Andrew turned to look at his son who had just walked through the door of their home. "Byron came to talk to me earlier today before my lecture. He told us maybe it was best if they didn't come to dinner this week."_

_"Did something happen between all of you? A disagreement?" Ezra asked uneasily. He didn't know what the protocol was when your parents were fighting with the parents of your best friend. _

_His mother Dianne laughed lightly, not taking her eyes of the TV, dismissing Ezra's thought with the wave of her hand. "Of course not! They just wanted to stay home, make sure Aria's okay."_

_"Make sure Aria's okay?" he echoed cautiously, his tone raising slightly. "Is something wrong with her?"_

_"You didn't hear? We were sure you knew," she replied, surprised, turning to face him. "Aria's sick. Poor thing's been too weak to even leave her room since Saturday. Ella told me she can't keep anything down except crackers."_

_"Oh," was the only that escaped from Ezra's lips. He dropped his book bag on the chair next to the couch and made his way into their kitchen without another word. _

_He began to pull a pot out of his cupboard and ingredients from his pantry and fridge when he heard his mother step into the kitchen, standing next to him, eyeing the fresh produce on the counter. "Are you cooking?"_

_He nodded wordlessly, picking up a knife and beginning to chop vegetables, setting aside half of them and placing the rest into the pot. Dianne knew her son, once he got it into his head he was going to do something, there was no talking to him until he was finished. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If you're going to visit Aria, you can come with your dad and I. We were planning on picking something up at The Grille for Ella, Byron and Mike, considering I bet it's been days since they've eaten anything substantial. Apparently, even the smell of food wafting up to Aria's room is enough to make her feel nauseous." Ezra once again said nothing, continuing his work. _

_Two hours later, the entire Fitz family, Wesley included, was at the Montgomery's front door bearing food, much to the Montgomerys surprise. Byron ushered them all in, leading them to the table in the kitchen, while Ella stayed behind, pulling Ezra aside. "Aria's upstairs in her room," she said, looking at the bags in Ezra's hands knowingly. He smiled and thanked her, quickly heading up to Aria's room, where he found her in her current state._

_"Don't worry," he chuckled, pulling a large glass Tupperware container from the bag in his hands, "it's not crackers." He placed the container on her bedside table and opened the lid. "Chicken noodle soup," he said, gauging her reaction. So far she didn't look nauseous; in fact, he thought he saw a spark of excitement in her eyes. He reached into the bag once more and pulled out a clear water bottle filled with some green liquid. "And I know you probably haven't been getting your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, so I made you some green juice." _

_He turned to place the bottle on her bedside table, looking in the bag for the spoon he packed, when he felt a small warm hand on his forearm. He looked back at Aria, who was smiling at him weakly. "Ezra, thank you." _

_She patted the space on the bed next to her, and he slowly sat, so not to jolt the bed too suddenly and make her dizzy again. "You're welcome," he replied earnestly. He looked at her, noticing that it was the first time she ever looked much younger than her normal fourteen year old self. "Aria, why didn't you tell me you were sick? I could've been here sooner."_

_Her eyes drifted down, suddenly interested in her bedspread. "I didn't want to worry you," she whispered. _

_"Aria, you worried me the second I didn't see you in the cafeteria on Monday and no one told me where you were," he said, covering her hand with his. _

_"I'm so-" she began her apology before he cut her off. _

_"It's okay. Just eat the soup I made and drink the juice and so you can get better soon. That's the best apology you can give me." He gave her a small smile before patting her hand and slowly standing up. "Hold on, I'll go downstairs and get you a bowl and a spoon."_

_Ezra walked down the stairs, noticing that Wesley and Mike were already on the couch playing some sort of video game, thumbs fumbling over controllers in one hand, burgers in the other. He made his way to the kitchen where he knew the adults were, but stopped short when he heard mentions of his name._

_"That was a very sweet thing for Ezra to do, bringing food over for Aria. Let's hope she eats it," Ella spoke. _

_Cautiously, Ezra peeked around the frame of the door and into the kitchen, surveying the scene before him. Ella and Dianne were next to the stove, reheating the food they had brought over, plating it nicely, while Byron and Andrew were attempting to choose a bottle of wine from the small wine refrigerator in the corner of the counter space. _

_"You should've seen his face when I told him Aria was sick. It honestly felt like my heart broke," Dianne replied. Ezra rolled his eyes; leave it to his mother to supply the dramatics in the story. _

_"Aria couldn't talk all of Saturday, but the first words out of her mouth when she finally could speak were, 'Please don't tell Ezra I'm sick. I don't want him to worry.' She couldn't speak for more than 24 hours, and the first thing she talks about when she finally can talk is Ezra." He could almost hear Ella shaking her head. _

_Dianne's voice dropped to a whisper, and Ezra found himself straining to hear what she was saying. "You don't think something's going on between them, do you?"_

_"I don't think so." Ella placed the spatula she was holding into the pan on the stove. "But with the way Aria perks up whenever he's mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if there were feelings on her end. A puppy crush, at the very least."_

_"I've noticed the way Ezra is so protective of her. And the look in his eyes whenever she's around." The kitchen fell silent, and Ezra thought that maybe they were done talking, that they had moved to another location, but then he heard his mother continue. "You know, Ezra all the kids met at the same time, but you don't see him bringing soup to any of them when they're sick. It's just Aria."_

_"So you think he has feelings for her, too?"_

_"I can't be sure," Dianne admitted, and Ezra let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. "But, I do know that my son loves Aria. Maybe not more than like an older brother loves his little sister, but who knows? Maybe in the future," she said wistfully._

_"Ladies," Andrew interrupted, "May I remind you that Aria and Ezra are still young. Aria's only fourteen, Ezra's not even eighteen yet. They're still kids. Give them time to grow up first before you start talking about how in love they are. _If_, and only _if_, those two are in love, bets are __they won't realize it until they're much older. Maybe college."_

_"Hopefully not until Aria's at least thirty. I refuse to think of her dating until before then," Byron muttered. The four adults laughed, the sound of the uncorking of a wine bottle breaking through. It was quiet as Ezra kept listening, and then he heard Ella's voice._

_"To the possibility of an Aria and Ezra in the future," she said with a laugh. He heard the chorus of cheers between the rest of the parents and the clinking of wine glasses._

_He peeked around the door frame again, seeing them all pick up a plate of food and head to the dining table, and ran into the kitchen, quickly grabbing a bowl, spoon and cup, and a bottle of water as an afterthought, and bounded up the stairs back to Aria's room, in case the parents decided to come back in. He couldn't face them, not yet, not when his mind was suddenly working in overdrive._

_He walked into Aria's room and shut the door behind him, smiling at the figure of the sleeping girl in the bed in front of him. He quietly served some of the soup into the bowl and poured a bit of the juice into the glass before kicking off his shoes and sitting on her bed, stretching out his legs. He gently nudged her awake. "Aria, you need to eat something." _

_She relented, allowing him to help her to a sitting position, tucking the blankets around her lower body and handing her the bowl of soup. He held her glass of juice with his left hand, his right arm tucked securely around her shoulders, his hand rubbing her arm lazily as he watched her tentative eat. She turned her face towards him in the middle of eating. "Thanks again, Ezra. I love you."_

_He smiled down at her, "I love you, too." He nodded towards the soup. "Keep eating." She dipped her spoon in the bowl once more, obliging, as he continued to study her. Maybe one day the words that had slipped easily from his lips would mean something more than they did now. Maybe._

* * *

"Just trust me," he replied simply. He didn't know why he didn't tell her what he had overheard that day, maybe it was that he liked keeping that little story a secret. One he'd tell her later in the future as they looked back on their early years together. A part of him was shocked that he was already thinking about them growing older together when they had only been together for two weeks, but another part of him knew that regardless of whether or not they had ever began dating, she'd be a permanent part of his life.

She took a deep breath as they stopped in front of his front door. "Okay," she said firmly, assuring herself more than Ezra, "I can do this. We have absolutely nothing to worry about."

He nodded, untangling his fingers from hers as he shifted the cake box from his right hand to his left, pulling out his house key and sticking it into the lock. "You ready?" he asked, Aria's nod giving him the okay. It was a little unnerving to see her so nervous. He turned the key, hearing the lock click before pushing the door open.

"Hello? Where is everyone?" he called out to the empty foyer. The sounds of laughter and uncorking of wine bottles escaped from the kitchen, however, his question went unanswered. He shut the front door and placed the cake box on the accent table next to him and took Aria's coat, hanging both his and hers in the closet before reaching for her hand once more, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He raised her hand to his lips quickly before reluctantly dropping it once more. He knew there was no way they could simply walk into the dining room hand in hand without raising suspicion right off the bat. "Relax. Breathe," the whispered reminder hanging in the air. He watched as Aria took a deep breath, picking up the cake box resolutely. There was the confident girl he lov- liked. The confident girl he liked.

Yes, Ezra loved Aria. He had always loved Aria. But it was always a brother-sister, best friend, close confidant kind of love. It was too early to admit to himself, let alone to her or anyone else, that he loved her in a boyfriend/girlfriend, committed relationship kind of way. He was in love with her- that thought had definitely entered his mind multiple times over the last few weeks, and while he wouldn't readily acknowledge it, those thoughts had always been buried deep somewhere within him over the last few years. But it was too early, that was moving too quickly, and for now, he just wanted to enjoy them in the moment. Enjoy the now.

Aria's melodic laugh broke him from his thoughts. "Imagining the different scenarios that could unfold tonight? I'm still all for backing out of this dinner."

"Aria," Ezra warned, keeping his tone light while shaking his previous thoughts out of his mind.

She sighed. "Okay, just stick to the plan. We'll sit down, keep the conversation light, talk about school and our friends, and then when dessert comes around, that's when we'll tell them." Ezra chuckled and dropped his head down, brushing his lips against hers in a featherlight kiss. She hit his chest and glared, making sure no one was around to see that. Had anyone seen, it would've all been over. "No more of that tonight, mister!" She picked up the cake box in a huff.

"As you wish. After you," Ezra said, gallantly gesturing the way towards the kitchen, leading her with a hand on the small of her back, her eyes still set in a glare meant specifically for him.

"Aria! Ezra!" Dianne exclaimed upon seeing them, "We didn't even hear you come in!"

Ezra saw Aria freeze, her feet planted firmly to the kitchen tiles. He saw her eyes widen. _"Oh no," _he thought to himself. Bad, this was very bad.

"Aria?" Ella asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Aria, are you okay?"

"She's fi-," Ezra was able to speak before Aria opened her mouth and interrupted him.

"Ezra and I are dating!" she blurted out. He had to bite the inside of his cheek just to keep himself from laughing at the bewildered faces of their parents, just ambushed by the news that their children were officially in a relationship.

"So much for your plan," he whispered in her ear, biting back another laugh.

"I never actually said I'd follow it."

* * *

"So, how long has this been going on?" Andrew asked as the four parents and Aria and Ezra settled into their seats at the dinner table.

Four pairs of eyes were trained on them, waiting intently for their answer. "Um," Aria mumbled, "two weeks now."

"Two weeks?" Ella questioned. "But, we talk every other day. I've asked you about Ezra, and you never told me. You've been together for two whole weeks, and you didn't tell me? You didn't tell any of us?"

"We wanted to wait until we could tell you in person together," Ezra answered, repeating the response they had practiced in the car on the way there. "Since this week's dinner happened to be postponed until the weekend, we figured it was the perfect time."

"So, had this dinner not been moved to today and it was on Wednesday as originally planned, we still wouldn't know about this?" Andrew clarified. Aria and Ezra exchanged a look with each other, not quite expecting that remark. Ezra opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again, not knowing what exactly to say to get themselves out of trouble, while Aria sat there quietly, biting on her lip nervously.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ezra saw Dianne begin to smile, and then he noticed Ella and Andrew laughing quietly, Dianne following suit soon after.

"Dad?" Ezra asked, confused.

Andrew reached over and clapped Ezra on the back. "Relax, Ezra. We're just giving you two a hard time. We knew this day was coming, eventually."

Aria and Ezra shared another glance before sinking into their chairs more comfortably. They were in the clear, their parents were actually okay with them dating. Except...

Aria turned to Byron, who was looking at his plate of food, effectively evading her stare. "Dad? Are you okay?" He had been painfully quiet throughout this whole exchange. In fact, he hadn't spoken a single word ever since she had blurted out that her and Ezra were a _her and Ezra_.

Byron slowly put his fork and knife down on the side of his plate, turning to Aria. "No, I'm not okay. How could you keep this from us, Aria? I always thought we had an open relationship, that you could come to us with anything. And you decide that for two weeks, you're not going to tell us you have a boyfriend."

"Byron," Ella cut in, "I understand that you're upset. But you have to remember, Aria's eighteen. She's an adult, she can make her own decisions. And besides, it's Ezra. It's not as if they haven't been dancing around each other for years now. We all knew it was only a matter of time."

"Regardless," Byron said, hand raised to effectively stop Ella from speaking again. "It doesn't matter that Aria's an adult. It doesn't matter that it's Ezra she's with. What matters is that I trusted her to always tell me these kinds of things as soon as they happen. Now to hear that she kept it from us for that span of time, and honestly, maybe even longer had this dinner not been on such a convenient weekend, it's making it very hard for me to wonder what else she's hidden from us."

"Dad," Aria started. He shook his head and turned back to his food, picking up his silverware again. For now, the conversation was over. Aria snuck another glance at Ezra, who also had his head tilted downwards towards his plate. He met her eyes and shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. This was not turning out the way they had planned.

* * *

When Byron skipped dessert in favor of watching TV in the Fitz's living room, Aria took that as her chance to have a little heart-to-heart with her dad. She politely excused herself from the table, giving Ezra's shoulder a squeeze as she made her way to where her father was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels.

"Dad?" He didn't say anything as she sat down next to him, but he did turn and give her a brief smile, so she took that as her invitation to keep talking. "Look, Dad, I'm sorry if I disappointed you, if I made you feel like you couldn't trust me. But, Ezra and I really did want to tell you all as soon as we made things official, it's just that things got in the way. School, our friends, finals, Ezra's graduation- everything just started piling up and telling everyone got pushed onto the back burner."

"You had every opportunity to tell us every time we talked." Byron didn't take his eyes off of the TV, and Aria could tell he was struggling to keep his voice even and level.

"Would you have wanted to hear about this over the phone?" Aria asked. She saw his hesitation, knowing she had a point. "Dad, if it were any other guy, chances are I probably would've told you over the phone. It wouldn't have been a big deal. But," Aria paused, attempting to choose her words carefully as Byron had finally looked away from the TV and gave her his full attention, "there's something about Ezra, about telling you and mom that Ezra is my boyfriend, I felt like it was so important to tell you in person. It felt too impersonal to tell you over the phone in between conversations about my professors and what's new on campus."

His expression softened. "You love him, don't you?"

She paused. "Right now, I think I still love him as my best friend. We just started this, I think it's too early for me to say that I love him as my boyfriend. That I'm in love with him."

"You might not be ready to say it yet, but I know you love him. You've loved him for years." Byron shut off the TV, turning to face her. "I think that's what bothered me the most about this. If it were some other guy that you started dating, I'd be okay with it, because it'd be something new. I'd know you wouldn't move too fast. But you and Ezra, that's been brewing for years. There's nothing to keep you from moving full speed ahead. You both know each other so well that you could be engaged next month and it wouldn't be that surprising."

"I wouldn't do that."

"I know," he placed his hand on hers, "it's just that you're growing up so fast. I always knew you and Ezra were going to happen, I just wasn't expecting it so soon. I was hoping you both wouldn't realize your feelings until you were thirty."

Aria laughed. "Dad!"

He smiled, patting her hand. "I can see now that you're mature enough to handle a relationship like this. Just be careful. Remember not to move too quickly."

"I promise," Aria said, looking into his eyes so he would know she was serious. "Ezra and I may know each other, but we know each other as best friends. We don't know each other as anything more. Yet. We're getting there. For now, we're moving slowly."

"Okay." Byron went quiet for a moment, and Aria could almost see the change in his mindset. "I know you wouldn't jump into anything you weren't ready for." She saw there was one more question on the tip of his tongue.

"Ask me the question. I know you have one more you want to ask," she gently prodded.

"Are you happy?"

She nodded emphatically. "I'm the happiest I've been in a really long time."

"As long as you're happy, then I support your decision." Aria squealed, attacking him with a hug. He laughed, squeezing his daughter tightly. "But remind Ezra that if he does anything to hurt you, I won't hesitate to hurt him."

"I will, Dad."

The two heard footsteps enter the living room and a woman clear her throat. They turned to see Andrew, Dianne, Ella and Ezra standing there, looking at them expectantly. "I think it's time Ezra get Aria home," Ella said, surveying her husband.

"Go, go," Byron ushered Aria off the couch. "Us adults still have some things we need to talk about."

Aria and Ezra quickly said their goodbyes to the parents before heading out of the Fitz house. Ezra locked the door behind them as Aria slipped her hand easily in his again, relishing in the calming feeling. They walked quietly to Ezra's car, him chivalrously opening her door for her before he got in the car himself. As he drove the car the few miles to Aria's house, he could tell she had a lot on her mind.

"How did things go with your dad?" he asked before he could stop himself. "He doesn't want to kill me yet, does he?"

"Things with my dad went well. He said that as long as I'm happy, he'd support my decisions."

"And you're happy?"

"Incredibly happy."

"So, we're good?"

"We're more than good."

* * *

**A/N: After spending countless hours on planes, buses and cars these last couple weeks, I was finally able to get a few moments to think and figure out exactly how and where I wanted to end this. I have everything outlined now and, barring any sudden changes in plot I think of, there are only going to be four more chapters and an epilogue following this. I just have to write them. Please be patient with me, I know I can be sporadic with my updates, but hopefully they're worth the wait.  
Thank you all again so much for the amazing reviews! Hopefully I'll still be getting them; I wonder if anyone is still reading this story. HAHA. But, please, if you're still reading, please leave a review. I always love hearing your guys' thoughts on this story!  
I'll have the next chapter up soon. Hopefully.  
- J**


	8. A Bump in the Road

**A/N: Excuses don't matter, so instead, I'm just going to say sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out.  
For the record, the beginning of this chapter, particularly Ezra's thoughts in the opening, hit a little close to home right now, so if it doesn't quite sound like him, chalk it up to me ranting a tiny bit. To everyone who is in his position, I just wanted to let you know that we're all in the same boat. Haha.  
This chapter is probably one of the longest I've ever written, so hopefully it makes up for this taking so long to get out. Once again, I'm so incredibly sorry for the delay in this. I'm working on getting my inspiration back. Please keep reviewing, and please enjoy!  
- J**

Disclaimer: I own nothing, especially The University of Pennsylvania, except the words.

* * *

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. _

Ezra groaned as he finally lifted his head from the notes he was studying on his small desk, rubbing his eyes as they attempted to adjust to his surroundings after having been strained from reading his countless stacks of papers from the last fifteen weeks of classes. It was 11:55 at night, the only light in his room coming from the single lamp perched on the left corner of his desk, and the glow emanating from the laptop on the right. He hadn't even realized it was so late, or dark, until he finally lifted his eyes to look at the clock on his nightstand.

He furrowed his brow, attempting to determine exactly what it was that had broken him from his studying trace. He could hear some sort of rhythmic, almost calming, dripping noise coming from outside, and then a loud gust of wind whipping through the trees, resulting in a high pitched whistling noise, a sudden barrage of water pounding on his window following soon after. Somewhere in the distance there was a loud crack of thunder, startling him. It was a spring rain storm.

He stood up slowly, extending his legs out in front of him to give them a much needed stretch, and rubbed his neck, rolling his head counterclockwise in an attempt to work out the kinks. He couldn't help it, a smile slowly appeared on his face as he realized that this would be his last Dead Week. Next week would be his last Finals Week, and the weekend after that was his graduation. He would finally be done with his undergraduate years.

Not that he didn't enjoy it, he thought as he walked out of his room towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, and maybe a snack. He had loved his time in college. He had definitely gotten his money's worth out of it, and he knew he would be walking out of Hollis College with some of the best memories, and friends, of his life so far.

But he couldn't help but surrender himself to that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. That feeling that reminded him that he didn't have anything set up for after graduation. Unlike most of his friends, he had no job lined up for after he graduated. He had no internships. No plans to go traveling. No graduate schools to hear back from, no research opportunities, he didn't even have any idea where he would be staying after he moved out of this apartment. He had no backup plan. For the first time in his life, everything was completely tossed up in the air. He had nothing totally concrete to hold on to.

Sure, he had sent in a few job applications here and there over the course of the last few weeks, but after hearing absolutely nothing from any of them, he had given up hope and resigned himself to the idea that he would probably have to move back in with his family while looking for a local job. Well, at least there was _some_ semblance of a backup plan. And yet, the fact that he didn't have some incredible opportunity waiting for him after graduation made him feel like he was failing everyone. Everyone had such high hopes for him to be successful after graduation, and having to face them all and say that his future was still..._abstract_ made him think that maybe he would be disappointing them. That he would be disappointing his family, his friends, Aria.

_Aria_, he thought, as he made his way back to his room, a bottle of water, an apple and a bag of chips in his hands. He wondered if maybe he was disappointing her most. He knew that she looked up to him, mainly because for so many years, he served as an older brother figure in not only her life, but the lives of their entire group of friends. He was the oldest, the one who experienced things first, the one the younger ones ran to when they needed advice. He wondered what Aria would think if she knew that he had nothing planned for after graduation. She'd be supportive of whatever it was he decided to do, he knew that, but maybe there would still be a trace of disappointment in her words.

Deep in his thoughts, he was just about to return to his studying when he heard a series of small knocks on the front door. Grateful for the interruption, he stood up once again from his desk and made his way to the door, a grin appearing on his face as he swung it open and saw who stood before him.

"Hurry!" Aria rushed past him and ran towards the window in his room, a long, thin, rectangular box in her hands. He took in her frantic appearance, her matted, dripping wet hair, her rosy pink cheeks, her rain soaked messenger bag- she looked like a hot mess. Or, better yet, a _cold_ mess. Not that he'd ever say so out loud to her face. Some things were just better left unsaid.

"Why are we hurrying?" Ezra asked curiously, following Aria into his room, where she had tossed the box onto his desk.

He watched her with slight amusement as she purposefully took a glance at the clock on his nightstand and then walked towards his window, fiddling with the latch on the side. "How do you get this thing open?" she asked absentmindedly, flicking the latch up and groaning in frustration when she pushed the window and it wouldn't budge open.

"Aria!" he exclaimed, placing his hand on hers in an attempt to deter her. "What are you trying to do?"

"It's almost midnight, I need to get this window open!"

"Are you crazy? It's pouring rain outside!" He may have thought what she was doing at that very moment was borderline insane, but he couldn't help himself from smiling at her, her eyes wide and a childlike look of excitement on her face.

"Don't care," she replied. "It's Monday night; the first night of Dead Week. Meaning it's my first Primal Scream, considering I missed the official first one last semester. I told myself at the beginning of the year that I'd participate in every traditional college activity Hollis had, and this is one of them."

It suddenly dawned on Ezra what Aria was trying to do. The Primal Scream was a tradition Hollis had during Dead Week, the week before Finals Week, where all the students at midnight every night would open their windows and scream as loud as they could. It was a good way to release stress from all the cramming they did, and also, considering it was mainly the students who were pulling all-nighters were the ones who participated, the Primal Scream ensured that the students who _were_ asleep would wake up, joining everyone else in their sleep deprived misery.

"Aha!" Aria announced triumphantly, the window moaning in protest at being forced open. No sooner had she pushed it open, Ezra came up beside her and swiftly pulled it shut, luckily before any of the rain had managed to blow itself into the room. "Hey!" Aria turned to look at Ezra, a petulant frown on her face.

He bit his lip in an attempt to keep himself from laughing at her adorable face. "You know the Primal Scream is mainly only done by those living on campus in the dorms, right? And my apartment," he gestured around the room with his left hand, "is not on campus. You scream, and I'm pretty sure you'll wake up everyone in this complex. And I don't think anyone would appreciate it."

"But, tradition!" Aria countered weakly, knowing her argument wasn't sound in the least bit.

Ezra crossed his arms over his chest and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Running naked through the library and passing out donuts is tradition, too. Were you planning on participating in that?"

Aria mimicked his movements, crossing her arms over her chest, tipping her head towards the box on his desk. "We had extra donuts. Figured I'd bring them to you," she replied with a straight face.

"You're kidding," Ezra said incredulously, looking Aria up and down. She was wearing a black peacoat, one that extended a bit past her knees, leaving the skin in between the hem of the coat and the tops of her black riding boots completely bare and exposed. A black peacoat that was buttoned up to her neck. A black peacoat that had yet to be removed, even though she had arrived at his apartment minutes earlier. She couldn't possibly be- no. She wasn't_._

Aria watched as he looked her up and down, knowing exactly what thoughts her previous comment has elicited. She laughed and rolled her eyes as she noticed his eyes growing larger; she could almost hear the cogs whirring in his mind. "Perv," she said, unbuttoning her jacket and laying it over his chair, showing to him that she was, in fact, fully clothed. Sure, she was wearing a pair of her flimsy pajama shorts and a tank top, which was pretty much as close to naked as she'd get in public, but still clothed, nonetheless. "Did you honestly think that I'd run around the library naked? I was in there studying with the girls, and we got donuts delivered to us. I snagged a few for you, since I knew you'd be in here studying by yourself."

She paused for a moment, a smirk pulling up the right corner of her mouth. "Although, you know, if you saw me naked right now, it'd even the score."

Ezra narrowed his eyes at her in warning. "We agreed never to bring that up again."

* * *

_Aria had just begun to settle into her warm bed, pulling her down comforter up to her chin, fluffing up the pillow underneath her. She reached over and checked her phone, smiling as she saw a text from Ezra bidding her a good night and hoping she had made it home safely. Smiling, she shut off the light on her nightstand and closed her eyes; it had been a long, exhausting day. _

_Hours after she had shut her eyes and her mind had drifted away into dream land, she heard a single tap against her window. She groaned, frustrated that something as simple as a tree branch scratching against her window had managed to wake her up. She pulled the covers over her head as she heard the wind whistling outside, hoping that the blankets would be enough of a barrier to keep the sound from interrupting her sleep and waking her once more. _

_Sure enough, she heard the branch scratch against her window once more. And then again. And again. After a few moments, she realized it __wasn't a branch hitting her window, they were rocks. But who would be throwing rocks at her window this time of night? _

_"Aria!" She frowned. She knew that voice. "Aria, wake up!"_

_Wait. _

_She threw off her blankets and hopped off her bed, running over to the window, pushing it open a crack. "Ezra? What are you doing here? It's, like, three in the morning!"_

_"Can I come up?" he called. _

_Something didn't seem right, she thought to herself as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Why was he standing so awkwardly? As her eyes cleared, she realized why his stance was so uncomfortable. "Are you naked?!" she asked in disbelief, a giggle escaping her lips. _

_"Quiet! Someone might hear you!" he shushed. "Just, please help me?"_

_Aria rolled her eyes and laughed, pushing her windows open all the way up. "Fine. Climb on up. But be quiet! You don't want to have to explain to my parents why you're climbing up their tree naked in the middle of the night."_

_She made her way further into her room, flicking on all her lights while waiting for Ezra to make his way up the tree. It wasn't long until she heard a thump on her floor, and her window sliding down shut. She turned to face the wall, face red with both laughter and embarrassment, unable to face Ezra. _

_"Thanks," Ezra said, his voice thick with gratitude. "The guys dared me to go streaking down the street, and once I made it to your house, I heard them laughing and then a door slam shut, and I realized they locked me out."_

_"Sounds like a great birthday party to me!" Aria choked out, trying her hardest to keep herself from breaking down in giggles. _

_"Oh yeah, getting locked out of my house, naked, is exactly the way I wanted to spend my 17th birthday."_

_Aria snorted, still facing the wall, an idea creeping into her mind. "You know, when they said on the news that there was going to be a full moon tonight, I'm pretty sure this isn't what they meant." It was taking all the strength in her body to speak with a level tone. Her fingers slowly inched towards the camera on her desk, immediately coming into contact with said item. She turned it on, hoping Ezra didn't notice the noise. _

_"Very funny," Ezra laughed sarcastically. "Look, do you still have the sweats and shirt I left over here last week? I'm not about to go back to my house without any clothes on."_

_"Yep, they're in there." Aria pointed with her free hand in the general direction of her closet. She heard Ezra's feet padding on her hardwood floor, coming to a stop a few feet away. Perfect. _

_Slowly, she turned around and, making as little noise as possible, focused her camera on the naked figure of Ezra, whose back was currently turned to her. She held the button down on her camera, the shutter whirring to life, indicating photographs of him were being taken in rapid succession. _

_"Aria!" Ezra howled, whipping around to face her, having enough sense to cover up his private area before Aria could snap a picture of that. He narrowed his eyes at her as he grabbed the sweats and shirt hanging in her closet and used them to cover up his lower half, running out of her room. It was with that that Aria burst out in hysterics, snapping a few more shots of his bare butt escaping from her room to get changed in the bathroom down the hall. _

_When Ezra returned back into the room minutes later, he found Aria laughing at what he assumed to be pictures from his impromptu photo shoot, and walked directly up to her dresser, digging through the top drawer. Her underwear drawer. "Ezra?" she asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?" __He was quiet for a few seconds before his fingers closed around exactly the item he was digging for, holding the piece of black lace triumphantly in the air. _

_Aria dropped her camera on the bed, racing over to where he was standing. "Ezra, that's my favorite bra! Give me that!" She attempted to snatch it out of his hands, but he was just far too fast and far too tall, holding it over her head, out of her reach. _

_"Delete the pictures, and I promise you you'll get this back unharmed," he bargained. _

_"Fine," she huffed, grabbing her camera from the bed and deleting the pictures. "Better?" She scrolled through her pictures, proving to him that she had, in fact, deleted all evidence of his dare. _

_"Better," Ezra agreed. He made his way over to her window once more and pushed it open, tossing her bra backwards towards her. "Thanks, again, Aria. I definitely owe you one." He sent her a wink and crawled out her window, back down the tree. This time, fully clothed. _

_Aria shook her head and laughed, shutting the window before turning off the lights in her room. She crawled back into bed still laughing, knowing that she hadn't been entirely truthful with Ezra- the pictures were safely saved on her computer, ready to be used as blackmail whenever needed. _

* * *

"Fine, fine," Aria relented, hands up, laughter just on the tip of her tongue. The sound of a series of windows creaking open outside caused her to snap her head towards Ezra's own window, eyes wide. "Did I just hear windows opening?" she asked. Before he could answer, she looked at the clock, a bright 11:59 flashing in red. "You told me the Primal Scream is only a campus tradition," she accused with narrowed eyes.

Ezra didn't have a chance to defend himself before the clock turned 12:00 and his neighbors began screaming at the top of their lungs. Aria gasped and ran to push open the window, sticking her head out and screaming as loudly as she could, catching the tail end of the Primal Scream. She stuck a hand out behind her, waving him over, continuing to scream as loudly as she could. "Come on, join me!" she called behind her, her voice beginning to show strain from screaming.

Ezra rolled his eyes and made his way over to her; he couldn't deny it, her enthusiasm was contagious. She moved over a few inches, leaving enough space for him to place his hands on the windowsill, steadying himself as he stuck his head out the window next to her. He noted that, luckily, it had stopped raining, if only for those few moments. Aria looked at him expectantly as she let out another ear piercing scream, a giggle escaping from her lips soon after. He couldn't believe that he was doing this. Tentatively, he let out a weak yelp, much to the dismay of Aria.

"That's the best you've got?" she asked incredulously. "Scream, or I'm showing Caleb and Toby the pictures."

"I thought you deleted those!" he exclaimed with wide eyes. When all Aria did in response was smirk, that was enough to get Ezra to give in. He took a deep breath and let out the loudest yell that had ever come out of his mouth, impressively lasting for at least ten seconds before his lungs gave out. The clock struck 12:01 just as he was finishing, and Ezra pulled the window shut once more, flipping the latch down, ensuring that it was to be closed the rest of the night.

"Happy?" he asked. Aria grinned, taking a step towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Very much so. Thank you for participating, even though I know you're a fourth year who's probably so over these silly college traditions," she mumbled into his chest.

Ezra placed a kiss on the top of her wet head before resting his chin on it, pulling her closer to him. "I may be a fourth year, but there's still a part of me that's going to miss these silly traditions," he admitted. He felt Aria shiver slightly, realizing that her peacoat hadn't done very well with protecting her from the elements, her pajamas damp from the rain that had seeped through her coat.

He reluctantly pulled himself away from her and went to his dresser, pulling out a pair of his boxers and one of his old Hollis sweatshirts, and grabbing a clean towel from the top drawer. "Here," he said, offering them to a shaking Aria, who was currently rubbing her arms in a desperate attempt to warm herself up. "Get out of those wet clothes and take a nice hot shower. I'll be here studying until you get back."

"Thank you!" She kissed him on the cheek, grabbing the clothes and running out of his room to the bathroom. Ezra chuckled to himself, watching her figure scamper out. He took a seat at his desk once again, knowing he'd have at least half an hour of quality studying time before she came back out and distracted him.

Forty-five minutes later, Aria skipped into his room, rubbing her hair dry with his towel. The pink color had returned to her skin, and his room was filled with the scent of his shampoo and body wash. There was something much more attractive about the smell of his products on her, and he made a mental note to go out and buy more of that shampoo and body wash to keep stocked.

"Thanks again," Aria said, grinning. "Do you mind if I just throw my towel and clothes in your hamper? I promise I'll wash your entire load for you."

"Don't worry about it," he replied as Aria tossed her clothes and the towel into the hamper of dirty clothes he had in the corner of his room. He reached out for her hand and pulled her onto his lap, Aria's arms automatically winding behind his back, her head resting in the crook of his neck. Her hair tickled his nose as he breathed in her scent: familiar, but very distinctly Aria. "What time do you have class tomorrow?"

"No class," she mumbled, her lips moving against his neck as she spoke. "All my professors cancelled their lectures this week and said there'd be voluntary office hours and study sessions instead."

Ezra didn't speak, instead closing his textbook and shutting his laptop, flicking off the lamp on his desk, basking the room in darkness. "Let's get to sleep, then," he said simply, picking her up in his arms easily and carrying her to his bed. He hesitated as soon as her arms wrapped around his neck, and his step faltered.

They had only been dating for a month, was this moving too quickly? Sure, all they were going to do was sleep together, _innocently_ sleep together. And it wasn't as if they hadn't shared a bed before, they had done it a countless number of times before when they were younger. However, that was when they were younger. Things were different now. Now, things between them weren't platonic, they had a romantic relationship. Would it be weird? "You don't mind staying here tonight, do you? You walking around at night isn't safe, and it's still raining outside. Plus, I doubt I'm going to see you at all the rest of this week and next with all the studying we're going to be doing."

He was well aware of the vulnerability that flashed through his eyes the moment that he locked eyes with her. "I don't mind," she whispered, allowing him a small smile. With that, he carried her across his room, placing her lightly on the bed to get comfortable as he made his way to the other side.

He pulled the covers over them as they laid their heads on the pillows, facing each other, getting settled. He reached out, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Hi," he whispered, suddenly feeling like a shy thirteen year old boy at his first co-ed sleepover, with his crush in the next sleeping bag over.

"Hi," she whispered back, reaching her hand out from under the covers to rest on his. Ezra turned onto his back, her hand still on his, draping her left arm over his chest and extending his left arm for her to scoot in closer. She moved in, her eyes dragging from his lips back to his eyes before she closed the distance between them, her lips covering his.

They moved slowly, their lips tentative. The kiss was gentle and sweet, not at all rushed or frantic, but still full of passion. His tongue lightly parted her lips, and she opened willingly, her left hand moving from his chest to tangle in his hair, as his went to the small of her back in an attempt to pull her even closer than was possible, before finally settling to slip under the hem of the sweatshirt she was wearing, tracing circles on her bare skin.

It felt like hours before they reluctantly broke apart to catch their breath, their breathing ragged. Aria rested her head on his chest, feeling it rise and fall quickly, his heartbeat rapid underneath her ear. She felt Ezra pull her tighter to him, his hand gone from under her sweatshirt and was now absentmindedly stroking her hair. She could feel his breathing begin to even out and his hand had slowly stopped playing with her hair. It wasn't long until she could hear rumblings from him, the small laughter rising from his throat a telltale sign that he was fast asleep.

Aria smiled at his sleeping body, a look of sheer peace on his face, before she snuggled into him. "Good night, Ezra," she whispered, kissing the hand that was intertwined with hers. Seconds later, to the sound of falling rain and Ezra's laughter, she fell in a deep sleep- the best sleep she'd had in months.

* * *

"Spencer, I swear, if I have to hear you repeat one more time the direction that the blood flows through the heart, I'm going to go insane!" Hanna exclaimed, slamming her hand on her own notebook full of notes.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm actually trying to study and pass my classes, and not doodling pictures of flowers!" Spencer countered, tearing her eyes from the intricate and to-scale diagram of the human heart she had drawn on the whiteboard, looking knowingly at the page of notebook paper in front of Hanna, causing her to quickly flip it shut in a futile attempt to prove Spencer wrong. Spencer smirked, knowing she was right.

Aria rolled her eyes and laughed, knowing that their bickering was just fueled by the fact that the five friends had been cooped up in the same study room in the library nearly 24 hours a day for the last two days. Dead Week had come and passed, and Finals Week was officially in session, meaning it was cramming time. It had been Spencer's idea to study in the library, far away from distractions in their dorm, such as the TV, a fridge stocked with food, and their warm, comfy beds.

In order to keep the room in their possession, they each took turns making food runs for the rest of the people in the room, and they each got a ten minute break to go outside and do whatever they needed to do every two hours in order to maximize study time. It was an insane regimen they followed, but Aria knew that once it came time for them to take their finals at the end of the week (the five of them were the unlucky, or lucky, if you chose to look at it that way, ones who had all their exams on the last Thursday and Friday before the end of the semester), they would be more than ready.

"Guys, I'm taking my ten minute break," Aria announced, pushing her chair back away from the table and rummaging through her bag for her cell phone. "I'll be back in a bit."

She laced her sneakers back on her feet and slipped out the door, shutting it as quickly as possible so not to disrupt the people studying in the main part of the library with Spencer and Hanna's arguing, and hurriedly made her way down the stairs and out the front door of the library. She walked directly across the lawn to an open tree and plopped down on the grass, leaning against the tree trunk, happy for a little spot of shade and fresh air.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh springtime air, she noted that the campus was relatively empty for a Tuesday, but that was probably because the students were all either in class taking their exams, or in the library, or their dorms/apartments studying for said exams. Aria smiled indulgently, knowing she was more than well prepared for her exams. How could she not be? She went to every single lecture, discussion, office hour and study session. She did optional assignments. She completed all the reading ahead of time _and_ took detailed notes on it. Not that she wanted to jinx it, but she knew she'd be able to ace these exams in her sleep.

And yet, there was something that was off. She could feel it. Maybe it didn't have to do with her exams, but she could sense something was about to happen, and that thought alone caused her heart to start pounding a little more rapidly. She had felt this sinking feeling for days now, popping up at random times, taking her breath away and leaving her feeling like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. That sudden crushing feeling crept up on her again at that moment, and all she could think about was that she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But what it was that she was waiting for, or trying to avoid, she wasn't sure.

Aria snuck a peek at her watch and saw that she only had a few minutes left of her break. Remembering why she decided to take it in the first place, she pulled out her phone and dialed the number she knew like the back of her hand.

The phone rang for a few seconds before she heard a familiar voice, one that instantly calmed her racing heart and slowed her breathing down to a reasonable pace, one that automatically brought a smile to her face.

_Hello, you've reached Ezra Fitz. Sorry I couldn't answer your call, but leave me a message with your name and number, and I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!_

She heard the beep, and automatically launched into an unprepared rant.

"Hey, Ezra, it's Aria. It's three right now, and I think I remember you saying you had an exam, so I guess that's why you didn't answer. Sorry about calling, it's just that- you know that feeling you get sometimes where you know something's wrong, and you just can't put your finger on what it is, so you keep going on about your day, and the feeling disappears, but then it randomly pops up again out of nowhere? Well, that's how I'm feeling right now, and I just, I guess I needed to hear your voice to calm myself down. I know you'd probably tell me to just take a deep breath, that I'm stressing myself out over my exams and all I need is a good night's rest in my own bed in the dorm, and not in the library, but you know Spencer and...I'm rambling. Okay, I should stop now before I get cut off. I just wanted to say good luck on the test you're taking right now, and thanks? I don't know, I should probably get back to studying now. Okay, bye."

Aria promptly ended the call and dropped her head in her hands, embarrassed that she had just left such a long and ramble-y message on her boyfriend's cell phone while he was in the middle of his final exam. She had officially become one of _those_ girlfriends. Before she could beat herself up any more, her phone buzzed in her hand. Half hoping it was Ezra, she immediately read the text message, groaning when she saw it was from Spencer saying that her time was up, and if she wasn't back in the room in the next minute, she'd have the rest of her break times revoked.

Pushing herself off the trunk and back to a standing position, she brushed the grass and dirt off of her black yoga pants and quickly made her way back up to the room. Maybe the sinking feeling didn't exactly equate to her failing her exams, but she wasn't about to take any chances. Every moment from now until her first exam on Friday would be dedicated to cramming every last bit of information into her head.

* * *

As he walked out of the lecture hall two hours later, Ezra could almost literally feel a weight being lifted off of his shoulders. Breathing a sigh of relief, he nearly let out a scream of excitement. Done. He was finally done with his last final. He was done with his undergraduate career, and all that was left was to walk across the stage at the actual graduation ceremony.

He leaned against the brick wall of the building his lecture hall was in, letting the waves of nostalgia wash over him. He had had his very first lecture of his first year in this very building, in that very same lecture hall. He had detested that class in the beginning, but by the end of the semester, he had befriended everyone in the class and he had managed to build a relationship with the professor, Professor Grandville, ensuring a faculty recommendation letter. That class had grown on him, and it had become one of his favorite throughout his four years at Hollis. It was fitting, then, that his last final had been held in the exact same place where it had all begun.

A sudden buzz interrupted Ezra's reverie, and it took him a moment to realize the buzzing was coming from his pocket. Pulling out his phone, he saw he had a missed call from Aria, and that she had left a message. Pressing '1' and typing in his passcode, he unconsciously smiled as he heard her voice filling his ear. She was cute when she panicked.

He laughed, knowing that had she been able to get a hold of him, he would've given her the exact advice she essentially gave herself. Ezra ended the call and began dialing her number to return the call, waving goodbye and shaking hands with a few of his friends who had trickled out of the same lecture hall he had just escaped. However, before he could press 'send', an incoming call cut him off. He furrowed his brow in confusion, it was not a number he recognized. Normally he wouldn't have answered it, but something told him this was not a call he should ignore.

"Hello?" he answered apprehensively.

"Hello," an unfamiliar male voice said over the line, "I'm looking for a Mr. Ezra Fitzgerald?"

"This is he, may I ask who's calling?"

"Mr. Fitzgerald, this is Timothy Westman, Director of Graduate Students at The University of Pennsylvania."

Ezra nearly dropped the phone in surprise. UPenn? Why was UPenn calling him? "Oh, um, hello Mr. Westman. Please, call me Ezra."

"Very well, Ezra," he replied smoothly. "I'm calling in response to your curriculum vitae that was passed along to me by one of my old friends. Professor Grandville?"

"Professor Grandville?" Ezra asked in confusion. "Professor Grandville gave you my CV?"

"Yes. He heard we were looking for new professors for the undergraduate English department here, and he believed that you would be a more than adequate addition to our faculty. And I must say, after reading over it myself, I must agree."

Ezra was stunned, to say the least. The Director of Graduate Students at UPenn thought he was qualified to join their faculty! But, there was one complication. "Thank you, Mr. Westman," he replied, unable to voice his reservation quite yet.

"I'd like to invite you here to the University of Pennsylvania for an interview. As soon as possible. To see if you think you'd fit in well with our faculty and staff members. It may be too soon to say, but if you feel as if UPenn is the right choice for you, then the job as a professor for Introductory English Composition for incoming first years is all yours."

"Wait." Everything was moving too quickly. What was going on? "Mr. Westman, don't professors for a university such as yours need a doctorate degree? I'm graduating this weekend with a bachelor's degree in English, not a doctorate. I'm sorry if Professor Grandville may have given you the wrong impression."

"That is precisely why I'm calling," Mr. Westman began, "I don't know if you were aware of this, as only a small handful of students per year are accepted, but UPenn has an accelerated three year Ph.D program associated with the Hollis College satellite school in California. However, the logistics of such are better discussed in person."

"Yes, I completely understand," Ezra heard himself answer automatically. No, in fact, he wasn't understanding anything that was happening.

"So, Ezra, when can I expect to see you? It's Finals Week there, is it not? We can wait until you finish your exams; we wouldn't want to get in the way of your studying."

"No, no, you actually caught me at the right time. I just got out of my last final exam."

"Excellent!" Mr. Westman exclaimed enthusiastically. "My schedule is quite full this week, however, I do have an opening Thursday afternoon."

"Thursday afternoon?" Ezra squeaked. Thursday afternoon? That was less than two days away!

"How does one PM sound to you? I believe I can squeeze you in then."

"One PM sounds perfect," Ezra heard himself answer automatically once more.

"Very well, then, Ezra! One PM this Thursday. I'll have my secretary email you the rest of the details and a list of documents I'll need you to bring, in case you find yourself interested in joining us at The University of Pennsylvania. This way, we can process your paperwork immediately and get you enrolled in your classes at the Hollis College satellite in California."

"Okay, thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Westman."

"It's our pleasure, Ezra. I'll see you on Thursday."

And just like that, the phone call ended, and Ezra was left with his cellphone dangling in midair, clutched in his hand. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Ten minutes ago, his entire future had been undecided, had been up in the air, and just like that, he had an acceptance to a three year Ph.D program in California and a guaranteed job as an English professor at an Ivy League university. And an interview in less than two days.

He blinked a few times, trying to will his mind to determine what exactly it was that had just happened. Slowly he tucked his phone back into his pocket and pushed himself off the wall, walking aimlessly in the direction of his apartment. Would he be able to be ready in time? Would he be able to prove to Mr. Westman and the rest of those at the University of Pennsylvania that he was cut out to be a professor there? Could he do it?

And with the shock of the offer he had received, he had forgotten to place the call to a certain girlfriend of his who was panicking in the library just a few feet away, trying to forget all about the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

_You have one new voicemail. Tuesday, June 11, 2014. 7:14 PM.  
_"Hey, Ezra, it's Aria. Again. I know I called earlier, but I just wanted to check in and see how your last final went. I guess you're busy right now, so...just call me back when you're free. Bye."

_You have one new voicemail. Wednesday, June 12, 2014. 9:32 AM.  
_"Not gonna lie, I was kind of surprised when I checked my phone this morning and there wasn't a text from you saying 'good morning'. I don't think you've missed one day in almost two years. I figured I'd give you a call and check in, make sure everything's okay, but you're not answering. That's cool. Um, give me a call when you can, so I know you're okay? Okay, bye."

_You have one new voicemail. Wednesday, June 12, 2014. 12:43 PM.  
_"Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened. Get this, Spencer walked back into the room from her break and saw that Hanna had dropped and shattered her molecular model of glucose, and she _flipped!_ She started full on yelling at Hanna, and Hanna started screaming back, and they started wadding up balls of notebook paper and chucking them at each other! A crowd was actually starting to form in front of the window to watch the show, like they're animals at a zoo or something. I left before they started throwing markers. Anyway, I just really wanted to share that with you. I miss you. Call me back. Bye."

_You have one new voicemail. Wednesday, June 12, 2014. 5:37 PM.  
_"So, Toby just called me asking if you were able to find any good luggage for your trip at the place he suggested? He said you left your phone at the apartment, and thought I'd be with you. You're going on a trip? Call me, please."

_You have one new voicemail. Thursday, June 13, 2014. 12:53 PM.  
_"I'm about to walk into my first final, and instead of British Literature, which is what I'm _supposed_ to be thinking about right now, all I can think of is the fact that you've disappeared off the face of the earth. I haven't spoken to you in days, I hear from Toby that you're set to go on some sort of trip, and you haven't even returned one of my calls or texts. I'm not that girl, Ezra. You _know_ I'm not that girl that always has her phone in her hand, calling her boyfriend incessantly or waiting for him to call or, better yet, even just send a quick text saying they're okay. I'm _not_ that girl. Except, I've turned into her these last few days. And I _hate_ that. It's all your fault. I can't believe I've turned into _that girl_. _You've_ turned me into that girl. I hope you're happy, because I'm certainly not."

* * *

"The exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions and one essay question. Please bubble your answers to the multiple choice questions on your Scantron, and answer the essay question in a full five paragraph essay using complete sentences in your Blue Books. Use pencils for the Scantrons, and blue or black ink only for the Blue Books. No other items are allowed on your desks except for your testing supplies- no books, miscellaneous papers, et cetera. You have three hours to complete this exam. And you may begin."

.o.O.o.

"Mr. Fitzgerald! We're glad you were able to make it. Please, have a seat, and let's get this interview started!"

.o.O.o.

"Thirty minutes have elapsed. You have two and a half hours remaining."

.o.O.o.

"I must say, we were thoroughly impressed with your CV. You're the perfect candidate for a future professor here at The University of Pennsylvania. We've found that students, especially the incoming first years, respond more positively when the professors teaching them are younger. Closer in age to them. They feel as if they can relate to the professors more and are less intimidated to approach them when help is needed. They're more likely to speak up in class and voice their opinions because they feel that they can, that they won't be shut down.

"Our goal over the next five years is to bring in a number of younger professors for our introductory classes, with the hope being that the students learn from the beginning of their time here that speaking to professors is not something to be afraid of. That our professors are here to help them. This way, as they move on throughout their college career, they'll have been exposed to meeting with professors and, our hope is that the lectures and discussions will be more lively. Also, we hope that these students will be less scared to build relationships with their professors, much like the one you have with Professor Grandville. We want to create a bond between the students and the faculty, and we feel that hiring younger professors may be the bridge to accomplish these goals."

.o.O.o.

"An hour has elapsed. You have two hours remaining."

.o.O.o.

"You will be enrolled in an accelerated three year Ph.D program. This program is a joint venture between Hollis College and The University of Pennsylvania, however, your degree will be from The University of Pennsylvania, meaning your credentials will say you received your doctorate degree from an Ivy League university. The program is located in Northern California- San Francisco to be exact. All students accepted into this program will be under scholarship, meaning tuition, housing and a small stipend will be covered."

.o.O.o.

"One and a half hours have elapsed. You have one and a half more hours remaining. At this point, you should be finished with your multiple choice questions and should be beginning to outline your essay, if not already writing it."

.o.O.o.

"During your three years in the program, on top of taking classes, you will gain teaching experience on a college level. Your first year, you will be a Teacher's Assistant, meaning you'll be in charge of your own discussion sections for the professor who you are assigned to. You will be responsible for holding office hours, helping the professors with their grading, and, on occasion, will be required to proctor quizzes and exams.

"Your second and third years will be spent as a lecturer. As Hollis College isn't technically a university, a person can teach a class while still working towards obtaining their doctorate. During these two years, you will be in charge of your own class. These classes are lecture only, and tend to usually meet only a handful of times per semester. Generally they are small classes of thirty or forty, so they are manageable on top of your workload. These two years you will be paid for your work, and they're often used as a gauge to see how well you are able to connect with students and determine if you can handle teaching at UPenn.

"The classes to obtain your Ph.D are held all year, including the majority of summer. However, you will get time off from classes for all holidays, and two weeks off during June, after the end of the regular school year.

"At the end of your three years, you will begin your position as a tenure-track professor of Introductory English Composition here at UPenn."

.o.O.o.

"One hour remaining. Please be mindful of your time!"

Aria broke out of her trance and looked down at her papers, surprised at how quickly time had passed. She had a completed half of her multiple choice questions and had haphazardly scribbled down some notes for her essay. She knew that if she didn't get to work soon, she wouldn't be able to finish the exam. She grudgingly turned back to her papers and bubbled in answers, jotting down sentences for the essay. But it wasn't long before she was distracted again by the a certain blue eyed, brown haired boy who had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.

.o.O.o.

"Well, Mr. Fitzgerald, I've said all I need to say. We'd love to have you join us here at The University of Pennsylvania. The question now is, would you like to join us?"

.o.O.o.

The sound of a hand smacking loudly onto a desk broke Aria from her trance. "That's it, your time is up! Please turn in your exams at the front of the room. Thank you all for a great semester, and have a wonderful summer!"

Aria looked down at the scribbles on her exam. What had she done?

* * *

**A/N: Hopefully this last section wasn't too confusing. For clarification in case it was, the first part was Aria's professor talking about the details of the exam, then following that was Ezra's interviewer welcoming him. The following sections interchange ****between Aria's professor at Hollis, and Ezra's interviewer at The University of Pennsylvania. I thought it was cool at the time, but then I realized it may have been a little hard to read. Hopefully it wasn't. Haha.  
Once again, please review! I truly hope the next update won't take as long to get up.  
- J**


	9. Graduation Day

**A/N: I apologize that it's taken me so long to update; ****I've had random sections of this chapter written for days (almost weeks) now. However, I held off on posting it because something about this chapter just didn't...work with me, if that even makes sense. I couldn't bring myself to finish it. But, I knew I needed to post it for the sake of creating a path to the ending, so I kept tweaking the storyline and finally, one night, I got this. And it's almost 10,000 words long. Wow.  
**These ideas came to me as a result of a late night iced caramel macchiato, four in the morning messages from one of my good friends, and Ed Sheeran's music on repeat. Enjoy, and please review.  
- J

Disclaimer: I own nothing but (most of) the words.

* * *

Aria felt nauseous. She legitimately felt like she was going to throw up. It was as if that little red notification mark in the corner of her screen was mocking her, taunting her. _"Click me,"_ it whispered to her. But her fingers remained frozen on the trackpad of her laptop, the cursor left hovering over the small red mark.

Her grades were available to view online. Sure, she had just finished her last exam hours before, but she knew her professors and TAs were incredibly efficient graders, so it was always in the back of her mind that her grades would be ready as early as tonight. And she wasn't necessarily sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

She took a deep breath. She could do this. All she had to do was click on the grades section, and they would be right there in plain black and white. Might as well get it over with now, she thought to herself, so she could enjoy her summer. No use in delaying the inevitable, anyway, she reasoned with herself. Her fingers moved nanometers towards her trackpad, ready to click.

_Knock, knock, knock._

The sound of three sharp knocks on the front door of her dorm suite startled her so much that she jumped, banging her right knee on the underside of her desk. "Hold on!" she called, pushing her chair away from her desk and hobbling to the door as quickly as her now bruising knee would allow her to.

She swung open the door expecting it to be the girls, apologizing profusely for forgetting their keys and not checking to see if at least one of them had it before heading out. But no, she was wrong.

"What are you doing here?"

Ezra stood on the other side of the doorway, gaze trained to the doormat at his feet. At the sound of her voice, his eyes shifted towards her, and she momentarily forgot for a moment that she was supposed to be angry with him. There was a look in his eyes that made her stomach drop, and she was immediately terrified. "Ezra, are you okay?"

"Can we, um, can we talk?" He was fumbling over his words, which was something Aria was not accustomed to. She always found Ezra to have such a way with words, and to see him struggling to form a complete sentence worried her to no end.

"Yeah, sure, just let me grab a sweater," she pulled the door open further. "Come in."

She turned her back to him and began walking towards her room, her heart racing. A million different scenarios were running through her mind, and none of them seemed plausible enough to explain his sudden appearance at her door after disappearing for days. And none of them explained the look on his face. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what emotion his face held, but she was sure she had never seen it before.

She pushed open her door and headed to her closet, hearing his footsteps close behind her, following her into her room. She didn't look at him, just stood in front of her closet, pretending to riffle through her articles of clothing for the one piece she was looking for, when in fact, she was just trying to collect her thoughts.

"Did I interrupt something?" Ezra's voice cut through her thoughts. She turned to face him and saw him gesture towards her laptop, open to her account on the school's online grading system.

"No, no," she said, waving it off dismissively. "I was just trying to work up the courage to check my grades. They were posted a few minutes ago." Knowing she couldn't stall much longer, she picked the next random sweatshirt her fingers brushed against and pulled it out, slipping her arms through the sleeves. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

"Are you sure you don't want to check first? I don't mind waiting."

Aria debated this in her mind. On one hand, she wanted to delay checking her grades for as long as possible. She knew that she had been less than focused on her exams, and a part of her was worried that she had been so unfocused that she had failed her finals, and subsequently, her classes. On the other, she was curious to know how she had done. She knew she knew the material like the back of her hand- Spencer hadn't overworked her for no reason. And with Ezra there, as much as she wanted to deny it, she automatically felt a calming sense. Like it would all be okay.

She took a deep breath and zipped up her grey Hollis hoodie, walking over to her desk. "Okay," she whispered, sitting in her chair and scooting forwards. She shut her eyes as she pressed down on her trackpad, clicking the grades section, immediately she shut her eyes. "Nope, I lied. I can't do this, I can't look!"

She hear Ezra chuckle behind her as she dropped her head down onto her arms on desk, afraid to look at her grades. "Aria, trust me, you'll want to see this."

"Did you already she them?" she mumbled into her arms.

"I did," he assured her, "and I think you should, too."

He sounded so excited that Aria found herself unconsciously smiling. Gingerly, she lifted her head and opened one eye just a sliver, peeking through the small space. Although it was blurry, she could make out five letters, stacked up one on top of the other, indicating the respective grades for each other the five classes she had taken that semester. And, although two of the letters had a small mark to the right of them, she could see the distinct pointed tip of each letter. She opened both eyes widely. A's. She had gotten A's in all her classes. Granted, two of them were A-'s, but still A's to her, nonetheless.

She squealed loudly, jumping out of her chair, her throbbing knee long forgotten. Ezra held his arms out for a hug, and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck as he easily lifted her a few inches off the ground, swinging her around. "See, told you you'd want to see them!" he exclaimed, planting a kiss on her cheek, steadying her back on the ground.

As soon as contact was made, he immediately backed off, and her arms were off of him, both realizing that they weren't quite back to that normal just yet. "Yeah, thanks," Aria replied awkwardly. They stood there in silence for a few moments before she grabbed the lanyard with her keys dangling off of it, tucking it in the pocket of her hoodie. "So, we should go," she gestured towards the door with her thumb.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Minutes later, they found themselves walking side by side in uncomfortable silence on a trail on the outskirts of campus. There was a crisp, early evening, springtime breeze blowing through the air, leaving Aria feeling chilly. She pulled the ends of the sleeves of her hoodie further down over her hands and hugged herself tightly, attempting to keep the breeze from freezing her more than it already did, the sound of their steps ringing through the air.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to beat around the bush and further prolong their walk with mindless small talk. She wanted to know why he disappeared, and she wanted to know _now_.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Ezra took a deep breath, seemingly trying to collect his own thoughts. "I was offered a job as a professor of Introductory English Composition at The University of Pennsylvania."

Aria stopped in her tracks, looking up at him. "Wait, you got a job as a professor, and you haven't even officially graduated yet? Ezra, that's great! Congratulations!" Even though she was supposed to be angry with him, she once again forgot as she was thrown off by his exciting news. She studied his face. Why didn't he seem as excited? "What aren't you telling me?" she asked cautiously.

"Let's sit," he said, placing a hand on the small of her back, guiding her to a bench just off the path, overlooking a line of tall, majestic trees surrounding a lush green field. "This might be a long story," he began as he looked out into the field, spurts of flowers having just finished bursting through, splashing the scenery with bright, vibrant colors.

"I have time." She watched as he rested his elbows on his thighs, dropping his head down to his hands, speaking to the grass floor as opposed to her.

"On Tuesday, after my last final, I got your voicemail. I was just about to call you back when I got a call from the Director of Graduate Students, Mr. Westman, at UPenn. Apparently, Professor Grandville is one of his good friends, and he had sent Mr. Westman my CV because he thought I'd be a good fit for the university. And Mr. Westman looked over my CV and agreed. So he was calling to schedule an interview for the position of professor of Introductory English Composition."

"But don't you need a master's degree in order to become a professor?" Aria asked, confused as to why they would offer him the job straight out of college with a bachelor's degree. But, although she was confused, she was also extremely proud. "You didn't even apply to any graduate schools, right?"

"That's exactly what I said. But, I found out during my interview, which was yesterday, that there's a joint accelerated Ph.D program between Hollis and UPenn. I'd spend three years at Hollis, working towards getting my Ph.D and leading classes while I'm out there so that I gain teaching experience. All accepted students would be under scholarship, so I wouldn't have to pay for my tuition or room and board, and they'd give me a small stipend. On top of that, I'd be paid for my teaching. And since it's a both run by Hollis and The University of Pennsylvania, my Ph.D would be from UPenn, meaning I'd have a master's degree from an Ivy League school. Even if things don't work out with UPenn, that degree could open so many doors for me in the future."

"So, they didn't offer you a spot in the program?" Still confused, but at least now she knew where he had gone on his 'trip'.

"No, they did."

"Okay," Aria drew out, furrowing her eyebrows, "I think I'm failing to see where the problem is here." She placed her hand on Ezra's arm, forcing him to look at her. She smiled encouragingly at him. "Look, I'm not mad at you, okay? I get where you're coming from now. The last few days have probably been a whirlwind for you, trying to figure all of this out. These are big changes. I don't blame you for falling off the face of the earth, considering I'd probably do the same thing if I were in your shoes."

"You're not mad?" he asked, incredulously, finally meeting her gaze.

"I mean, I wish you would've talked to me about it," she admitted, taking his hand in hers. "Not only am I your girlfriend, Ezra, but I'm one of your best friends. You can come to me absolutely any time about anything," she confirmed, her voice strong. "But, no, I'm not mad."

Ezra stared into her eyes for a few moments, and she found herself holding her breath. There was still something he wasn't telling her, and she knew that it was coming. It all clicked, the feelings of dread she'd been having for the last few days, the feeling like the other shoe was about to drop. She was amazed she hadn't seen it earlier, things between her and Ezra had gone so smoothly over the last few weeks, they hadn't run into any problems, something was bound to go wrong sooner or later.

Wait. His words had finally processed in her mind. "You said 'out there'. I thought you said you'd spend three years here at Hollis. Is there a different Hollis?"

Minutes. It literally felt like minutes passed in silence before he said anything. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, and Aria legitimately thought she could feel her heart breaking. "I'd be at the Hollis College satellite. In San Francisco."

Aria felt the wind rush out of her. "California. Um, wow. That's just, wow." She didn't know what to say. She drew her hand away from Ezra's arm and reached up, awkwardly tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear. "This is an amazing opportunity. Are you going to take it?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

"When do you need to decide by?"

"Mr. Westman said as soon as possible, because I need to be enrolled in the classes and settled in California by the first week of September. I don't want to keep them waiting long because even though they said they'd hold my spot until I'm ready to make my decision, I don't know how long they'd realistically keep the spot open. But I just don't know what to do."

"How about this," she suggested quietly, struggling to hold back everything she was feeling, "save making your final decision for after you graduate tomorrow. After you walk across that stage and get your diploma case, then you can decide what you want. I'm sure once the pressure of graduating is off, you'll know exactly what to do."

He nodded slowly, taking in her words. "Okay, after graduation tomorrow, I'll make my decision."

"That's good to hear," she said, biting her bottom lip. She didn't know what else there was to say, and she needed to get out of there before he saw her cry. She stood up abruptly and gave him a forced, small smile. "Listen, I need to get back. The girls and I are going out to celebrate the end of finals tonight, and they're probably wondering where I am."

"Oh, okay," he replied, standing up with her. "I can walk you back to your room."

"No!" she exclaimed a little too quickly. "No, it's okay. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? It's not a-"

"No, Ezra, don't worry about me," she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, and began to make her way back to her dorm as quickly as possible.

She wasn't two feet away when she heard him call out her name. She paused and turned to face him, using all her strength to keep from breaking down right then and there. "Am I going to see you at the graduation tomorrow?" he asked hopefully, the look in his eyes undeniable.

"I'm not sure," she replied sadly. "I need to go."

Aria turned back around and walked away, and Ezra didn't stop her. After what seemed like hours, she finally made it back into the safe haven of her dorm suite. Slamming the door shut behind her, she dropped to the floor, her sobs cutting through the silence in the room.

All at once, she felt four bodies drop to the floor next to her, all trying their best to comfort her as best as they could.

"Aria, talk to us," Spencer soothed as Alison rubbed her back. "What happened?"

"Ezra's moving to California for three years," she managed to choke out before she went numb.

* * *

"Ezra Anthony Fitzgerald."

The next morning, Aria found herself sitting in the crowd at Hollis College's Class of 2014 Graduation Ceremony with not only Hanna, Alison, Spencer and Emily, but also with Wesley, Mike, and Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Alison's families as well. Over the course of the last ten plus years, all the families had intertwined together, becoming one large extended family, so it was only right that they were all there to witness one of the most important events in one of the kids' lives. Ezra and Aria's parents all pulled as many strings as they could to ensure that everyone could be present at the ceremony to show their support. Both sets of parents were currently sitting more towards the front, directly behind the graduating students, with the other faculty members.

Aria's eyes followed Ezra as he stepped onto the makeshift stage that was erected on the main lawn in the middle of Hollis, watching as he grinned widely, shaking hands with the distinguished faculty members lined up on stage before receiving his diploma case from the dean. He stopped right before stepping off, turning his tassel from the right side to the left and pointing out to his family in the crowd.

Yes, she was proud of him for finally completing another chapter of his life, knowing that he was going to be moving on to bigger and better things. However, she couldn't bring herself to smile and be happy for him, considering he would be leaving her behind in a few months to move across the country for three years, over the course of which, she probably would only get to see him a handful of time, if at all.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't even realized that the dean had just announced the name of the last graduating student and was in the process of introducing the newest graduating class of Hollis College. She felt the four pairs of eyes of her best friends on her as she looked around and noticed she was the only one still sitting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce Hollis College's graduating class of 2014! Congratulations!" Aria's hands automatically pulled together in a halfhearted clap as the new graduates excitedly threw their caps into air, their first official acts as college graduates.

Her eyes locked on Ezra, and she watched as he, with Toby and Caleb next to him, tossed their caps high up into the air and laughed as they ducked out of the way of the dull corners of the falling caps. They all grinned widely, pulling each other into a tight three way hug, screaming, jumping, and pumping their fists into the air at the same time.

As they pulled away, Ezra caught her eye, shooting her a knee weakening smile, full of sheer euphoria. Aria could tell he was ecstatic, and she knew she had to put on a brave face for him. She didn't want to ruin what should be one of the happiest days of his life with her sulking. So she forced herself to grin back at him, surprised that it actually wasn't as hard as she had thought it would be. She genuinely was happy for him, it was just a matter of showing it.

She gave him a thumbs up, laughing as Caleb shoved him forward to start moving, as the students in front of them had already begun their procession out to meet their families for pictures. She would talk to him later, after all the congratulations were given and happy pictures capturing the moment were taken.

* * *

"Hey," Ezra greeted sheepishly, cutting across the grass and making his way to her half an hour after the ceremony had ended, graduation gown unzipped and hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks. "Glad you decided to come after all."

"I didn't really have a choice," she replied, offhandedly. "The girls are all here and so are all our families. I couldn't exactly not show up, because then I'd have to explain to everyone why I didn't come, and that'd just open up a whole can of worms."

"True."

Neither of them could think of a way to break such an awkward silence. It was finally Ezra who gave in and decided to just come right out and say what needed to be said. "Listen, I know you said that I should wait until after I graduated today to make my decision, but to tell you the truth, I spent all night last night thinking about it, debating the pros and cons of it all.

"It wasn't until I had turned my tassel that I knew exactly what my decision was. No matter what those lists said, I knew in my gut what the right decision for me was."

"You're going to California," she finished for him softly. There was no questioning tone in her voice, nothing accusatory, she was simply stating a fact. It wasn't as if there was ever a question of him taking this opportunity, he would have to be an idiot for turning it down, she had just given him time to think about it more for her sake. She needed time to adjust to the fact that he wasn't going to be around, that he was going to be all the way across the country.

"I am."

"Okay." She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "So, where does that leave us?"

"To be honest, I don't know." He paused, studying her reaction, but she tried her hardest to remain passive. She want to give away anything. For once, she was hiding her heart; it wasn't on her sleeve anymore. She needed to protect it, after all. Now more than ever. "Would you want to try long distance?"

"Do you think we can handle long distance? I mean, we haven't even been dating for two months," she reasoned.

"Do you want to take a break?"

"Not really," she answered truthfully.

"Well," he sighed, "I don't know what other choices we have. It's either we do long distance, or we take a break."

"Ezra," she said, placing her hand on his arm. "Whatever you want to do, it's fine with me. I want you to make your decision based on what you think is best for _you_, because you've already done so much for me. It's time for you to do something for you."

Aria watched Ezra's eyes, and she saw almost the exact moment when his decision had been made.

"I think...we should take a break," he drew out slowly. "You're right, we've only been dating for two months. And I won't even be on the same side of the country as you. I don't want to be holding you back. I couldn't do that to-"

"Don't worry about me," Aria interrupted quickly. "Do what's best for _you_. What do you think is best for you?"

"I think what's best for me is that we take a break. I'm going to be working hard in San Francisco, and I don't need to be distracted with the thought that you're stuck here waiting for me. You said it yourself, you're not the kind of girl who has her cell in her hands all hours of the day, waiting for her boyfriend to call. And with me in San Francisco, that's exactly what you'd be doing. And neither one of us deserves the pain that could come from that."

"Okay," she agreed, nodding her head, desperately trying to hold back her tears. "So, we're taking a break."

"Hey," he soothed, wiping a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek with the pad of his thumb, "think of it this way: Ross and Rachel took a break, and they eventually ended up getting married."

As much as she didn't want to, Aria couldn't help but laugh at his reasoning. "Rory and Logan took a break, too, and look where they ended up. He got a job in California, proposed before moving, and she unceremoniously said no. They broke up for good," she shot back.

"Yes, but they stayed together for years after they got back together from their break," he pointed out with a smile.

"But they still ended up breaking up. I'm sticking with my argument, mister."

Ezra laughed, but Aria could see that it was halfhearted. The spark in his eye was gone, and she knew that he was likely looking at the same thing mirrored in her eyes. He brought his right hand to her cheek, cupping it. "So, we're taking a break?"

"We're taking a break," she affirmed, the tears flowing a little more fluidly and rapidly.

He placed his left hand firmly on her hip, pulling her close to him for one last kiss. Aria could feel her throat closing as he kissed her tenderly, trying to pour every ounce of emotion he could into this one last kiss. She broke apart from his lips with a sob, and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist as he moved his hand from her cheek to behind her head, pulling her into his chest, resting his chin on her head.

"I'll call you," he said quietly. Aria felt him lean down and rest his forehead against hers. "Goodbye, Aria." And with a kiss on her head, he was gone.

* * *

One week. Aria hadn't heard from Ezra in one week. No phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, Instagram or Twitter direct messages- nothing. Over the course of the week since his disastrous graduation, Aria had been able to stay distracted by keeping herself busy by packing up all her belongings from her dorm room and moving back into her parents' house for the summer. However, now that she was lying in her bed, in the dark, with silence enveloping her entire room, she couldn't run anymore. She couldn't escape the thoughts that she had managed to dodge for the last week.

She couldn't believe that he had been so willing to throw away everything they had been working towards, everything they had built for almost the last two months, so quickly. Like it didn't mean anything to him. Granted, if she were being honest with herself, it wasn't as if he had actually _thrown everything_ away. He was the one who had suggested taking a break, after all. That had to mean that he wasn't completely out of this relationship, right?

"Ugh," she groaned, pulling a pillow over her head. How he had managed to still get to her, she didn't know. She didn't even know where he was at that moment, what he was doing, who he was with. Maybe he was in Philadelphia, signing the papers to his new life away from her. Maybe he was in San Francisco, checking out the city he would be calling home for the next three years. Or maybe, and this was the possibility that hurt her the most, maybe he was in Rosewood, at his own house down the street from hers, in his own bed, actively ignoring her.

Maybe ignoring her wasn't the correct word. 'Ignoring' would imply that he was resisting all contact from her, which wasn't the case, considering she had yet to reach out to him. She hadn't exactly attempted to send him a message checking in to see how he was. But, wasn't he the one who had said he would call her? He said _he'd_ call _her_, so in theory, that would mean he was ignoring her.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't ignoring her, and she wasn't ignoring him, they were simply just living separate lives apart from each other. It was good practice for when Ezra would be in San Francisco, and she'd be at Hollis.

"Stop!" she ordered herself authoritatively. There was no use in worrying where he was or what he was doing, it was over. They were over. As much as Ezra said that they were "taking a break", Aria knew that those words basically meant that what they had was done. She tried to fight the tears that were threatening to fall once more, but it was a useless cause. Mentally and physically exhausted from all the thoughts racing through her mind, she pulled her covers over her head, willing her mind to go blank, her body to go numb, so she wouldn't feel anything.

After many minutes of tossing and turning, she finally fell into a fitful sleep, void of any dreams. All she saw was darkness.

* * *

Ezra had been wandering around the neighborhood aimlessly for half an hour now. He had laced up his shoes and slipped out of his house, allowing his feet to carry him wherever they so chose. He had circled around the spots where he had spent much of his childhood, before his feet finally led him to essentially the main location of all of the best memories from his younger days. Without hesitation, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Maybe her not answering was a sign that she was moving on, that this was a bad idea. He _had_ told her that he would call her, so her not answering would mean that she was angry with him, that she was ignoring him. And he couldn't blame her for that, they were on a break, after all.

However, if she did answer, he'd take it as a sign that maybe there was still hope for them yet. "Come on, pick up. Pick up, pick up, pick up," he whispered, willing her to answer her phone. He wasn't ready for them to be over yet, contrary to what had happened at his graduation the week before.

She picked up on the sixth ring, right before he was going to hang up.

"Hello?" she answered, voice thick with sleep.

"Aria? We need to talk."

He heard her breathing hitch as his voice came over the line. "I think we've already said all we needed to say, Ezra," she whispered. His heart clenched as he heard the pain in her voice, and the small sniffle that followed. She was crying.

"Just, please? I need to talk to you. I'm standing outside your house. Just open your window and let me in." She had answered the phone. It was a sign that they weren't over. It had to be a sign.

"No, I'm not letting you in. I'm done. _We're_ done," she emphasized. He could almost hear her tears hitting her pillow.

"We're not done. We're 'taking a break'. You and I both know that we're not done," he insisted. He wasn't giving up. He couldn't. But even he could hear just how stupid his words sounded at that moment.

He heard her sheets ruffle next to the speaker of her cell phone as he imagined her rolling over to look at the clock on her nightstand. "It's four in the morning. Go home, Ezra. It's late." See? He had known she was checking the time. That meant that he still knew her better than he thought. They weren't over.

"Aria, I'm not leaving."

_Beep_. He pulled the phone away from his ear and looked down at the screen. She had ended the call. He looked up at her window, her room dark, not a single shining light. He kept staring at her window, hoping that she would open it. That she would give him a chance to explain. And that's where he stayed for the next five minutes, unmoving, keeping his eyes locked on her window. He had promised he wasn't leaving until they talked, and he was going to make good on that promise.

After another ten minutes of staring, he was starting to lose hope. And feeling in his legs. He collapsed down onto the curb, sitting down and facing away from Aria's house for the first time in almost twenty minutes. He dropped his head into his hands. The song 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' by The Script briefly entered his mind, and he laughed bitterly, realizing just how true those words currently rung.

He knew he had made a mess of things, but all he needed was one chance to explain things to her, to try to make things right again. But there was no way he would get to do that unless she opened her window and let him in.

In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea disturbing her at this time of night, or morning, but after he had come across that letter he forgot he had hidden in his desk, there was no controlling his actions. He had to go talk to Aria and convince her to give him a second chance, if only for the sake of following his grandfather's wishes. He was going to fight for Aria, and there was no stopping him.

He stood up, ready to throw pebbles at her window in hopes of convincing her to let him in. However, before he could even lift his arm and launch the small pebble in his hand towards her room, the window swiftly opened. Taking it as a sign, Ezra began his quick ascent up the large tree next to Aria's window, a wide grin on his face. She had opened her window and let him in. She wasn't giving up on them, either. It wasn't even a minute before he was crawling through her window, feet firmly planted on the floor of her room.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, dropping onto her bed, tucking her legs under her and crossing her arms across her chest in a defensive stance.

"I guess I just couldn't stay away," he admitted as he followed her, casting his eyes to the ground. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the worn and folded envelope he had stuffed in on his way out of his house. "Here," he said, offering the envelope to her, still refusing to look her in the eye.

"What's this?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her as she reached out and took the envelope from his hands.

"It's a letter my grandfather left to me. He wrote it before he died two years ago. I found it in my desk again earlier today, and it put things back into perspective. I didn't understand how much it would mean to me until now. I think you should read it."

* * *

_Ezra pulled his silver Camry into the circular driveway of his grandparents' Short Hills, New Jersey house. It seemed surreal being here again, especially since he knew that when he walked through that front door, he wouldn't hear the booming sound of his grandfather's voice barking at the servants. Save for the occasional holiday and special celebration, he rarely came to this house, let alone saw his grandparents. _

_He shifted his car into park, letting it come to a complete rest, before he took a deep breath and stepped out, making his way to the imposing front door. Out of habit, he raised his hand to ring the small doorbell to the right, but then remembered (or, more __precisely, felt) the heavy key waiting in his pocket. He quickly pulled his hand back from the doorbell and dug his hand in the pocket of his black slacks. Even though his grandfather was gone, he still couldn't shake the habit of having to wear more formal attire when coming to the house. Gingerly, he pushed the key into the lock, turning it slightly, and heard the click. Pulling the key back out, he placed his hand on the heavy door handle and pushed. _

_"Hello, Mr. Fitzgerald. I'm so sorry for your loss," one of the maids greeted him as soon as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. "Please, let me take your coat."_

_Ezra blinked for a few moments before realizing she was addressing him. In all his twenty years, he had never been here on his own, he was always with his parents, so he had never been accustomed to being addressed as 'Mr. Fitzgerald'. Mr. Fitzgerald was always his father or his grandfather. Besides, no one ever used his real last name, everyone used the truncated 'Fitz'. His real last name was something he often liked to keep to himself, as it was one of the more prominent surnames around the east coast society set. He grew up hiding the fact that his grandparents came from money, and was never one to flaunt it. _

_"Oh, I'm sorry," he replied, collecting himself. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and handed it to her, clearing his throat. "Thank you. For both your condolences and for taking my coat," he clarified. "And please, call me Ezra."_

_"Very well, Ezra," the maid replied carefully. He got the feeling that the maids were instructed to never address guests by their first names. He watched uncomfortably as she opened the coat closet to the left of the front door and hung his coat inside. "Your grandfather's study was-" she paused, seemingly debating whether or not to correct herself, "- is down this hallway, last door to your left. Please don't hesitate to call if you need any help." And with a nod, she was gone. _

_"Thanks?" Ezra called out to a now empty foyer. _

_The sound of his black dress shoes on the hardwood floor reverberated throughout the hallway, which was currently lined with paintings of his relatives- his grandparents, his father with his siblings, and family portraits of each of their respective families. He came to a stop right before the door to his grandfather's study and studied the painting hanging on the wall- it was a solo portrait of Ezra at sixteen years old. Just looking at the picture he could feel the awkwardness arising, the stiffness he felt in his neck after being forced to sit with his head straight for a good few hours, the strain in his eyes from staring at the same spot, trying not to fall asleep. He was the only one of his grandparents' grandchildren to have their own portrait on the wall. He never did understand why that was. _

_The sound of dishes clinking, presumably the help boxing up the china used for dinners in the formal dining room, broke Ezra from his trance. His eyes snapped from his portrait to the door of his grandfather's study to the right, a feeling of dread arising. He didn't know why, when he heard his parents quietly arguing over who would come over to find his grandfather's hidden will, he had been the one to butt in and volunteer. He also didn't know why he turned down Wesley and Aria's offers to come along; either one of them would have been the perfect company at this moment. _

_No, this was something that he felt needed to be done on his own. Unlike the relationship he had with his grandmother before she passed away two years before (Ezra had adored his grandmother and counted her as one of his closest confidants, even though he rarely saw her), he had always had a strained relationship with his grandfather. There was just no way he could think of to break that icy facade he always upheld. Maybe this was the last way he could offer a symbolic olive branch- he would be the one to find his grandfather's will and carry it out exactly the way he wanted it done. _

_Before he could lose his nerve, he gripped the doorknob of the office and pushed it open. "Oh!" he exclaimed, surprised to see that he was, in fact, not the only one who was looking for his grandfather's will. _

_The man looked up from the papers he was studying on Ezra's grandfather's desk. "Can I help you?"_

_Ezra assumed a defensive stance, crossing his arms across his chest. "Can I ask why you're going through my grandfather's belongings, when I know for a fact that you are not immediate family?"_

_A flash of recognition passed across the man's face, and immediately, he was up and crossing the room, eagerly offering his hand to Ezra. "Ezra Fitzgerald? I thought I recognized you! You probably don't remember me, but I'm Jonathan Ryan, your grandfather's lawyer. I think I sat with you at many of Gregory and Sarah's Christmas parties over the years."_

_Jonathan Ryan, his grandfather's lawyer. That did ring a bell, albeit, an incredibly faint one. Ezra realized it was probably far past what was considered proper and he had left Mr. Ryan hanging, so he immediately took his hand shook it firmly. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Mr. Ryan. I guess it's been a while since I've last seen you."_

_"That's all right! It's understandable," he laughed, clapping Ezra on the back. "And call me Jon. I'm not nearly old enough to be called 'Mr. Ryan' by youngsters like you."_

_Ezra chuckled, he liked this guy. "Okay, Jon. But only if you promise to never call me Mr. Fitzgerald."_

_"Done." Jon gestured for Ezra to follow him over to the desk, where the papers were lying scattered across the top. "I was just looking over Gregory's will. You have impeccable timing, I had just gotten to the portion where he specifically ordered me to get you this envelope as soon as possible. You just saved me a trip to your house." He handed Ezra a long, thin envelope. It couldn't have held more than two papers, but there was something about it that made Ezra realize it held so much more than that. _

_He stood staring at the envelope, his name scrawled across the front in his grandfather's signature script. He felt Jon's hand clap his back again, giving his shoulder a small squeeze. "I'll give you some privacy. I'm going to head to the kitchen to see if I can find a snack. Just give me a call when you're ready." Still staring at the envelope, he heard footsteps, then the heavy door open and shut. And he was left all alone with the envelope in the room where his grandfather had spent most of his time._

_Minutes passed before Ezra finally got the nerve to open the envelope. He sat down in the cushy leather office chair behind the desk, opening the top left drawer and pulling out the letter opener, slashing open the flap of the envelope before replacing it back in the drawer. Carefully, he drew out two folded pieces of paper, both covered with, once again, his grandfather's familiar script. Leaning back into the chair, Ezra took a small breath, preparing himself for what the letter could say, before immersing himself in his grandfather's words. _

Dear Ezra,

If you're reading this letter, it must mean that I'm no longer here, and Jonathan managed to pass along this letter to you, just as I instructed. I know you're probably confused as to why I would leave you a letter, but I sincerely hope that it all makes sense by the end of this.

Ezra, I know we haven't had nearly as close of a relationship as we should have had. It wasn't for lack of trying, don't think your attempts to reach out to me haven't gone unnoticed, but my ways are deep-seated in my personality. In my roots. My father, your father's grandfather, was never emotionally attached to me, my siblings, or even my mother, and that trait was passed down onto me. As much as I tried to fight it, to try to establish a relationship with your father and your aunts and uncles, I just couldn't do it. However, I am thankful every day that my children never turned out like me, and I have your grandmother to thank for that.

I'm proud of you. I know I never said it before, but you must know that I am incredibly proud of everything you've accomplished, of everything you have ever done. Graduating salutatorian from Rosewood High, getting straight A's all throughout your schooling, and even up until now, as I'm writing this, when you're about to begin your first year at Hollis. I'm proud of you for working hard, for working towards your dreams, for studying something that makes _you_ happy, and not everyone around you.

I want to make up for the fact that I haven't been in your life as much as I would've liked to be when you were younger. I feel like it's too late now, so this is the only thing I can think of to try to make amends.

As I'm writing this, Jonathan is working on the paperwork to set up a trust fund for you. Ideally, I would've liked to leave the family company to you, but I know that business is not your passion, so instead, I am leaving that to your brother Wesley to take over whenever he chooses. As I cannot leave the family business in your name, I know you wouldn't like that kind of pressure, anyway, I thought a trust fund would be a much better choice.

I know you take after your father and you aren't a materialistic person, so you're probably wondering why I would leave you money. I want to be able to take care of you. In the future, I don't want you to have to work all the time and end up having to neglect your family. I don't want you to turn out like me, or my father. Be like your father. Come home at a reasonable hour, make time to go to your kids' games and plays, don't forget your anniversary or important birthdays. Use this money so that you can take a job that you'll enjoy going to, that won't feel like a chore you have to suffer through, just because you need to make ends meet.

Your trust fund is worth five millions dollars. I know this seems like a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things, it's actually a fairly small amount.

The terms of this trust fund state that you'll come into control of the amount in two parts. The first part, two hundred and fifty thousand, is to be accessed when you graduate from college. All I ask from this is that you use a portion of this money to pay off your student loans. I know your parents were too proud to come to us for money to pay for your tuition and you had to take out loans, so use this money to pay it off. The rest of the amount is to be used as you wish. Go backpacking around Europe, rent a yacht for a night to throw a graduation party for you and your friends, use it to buy plane tickets for you and your girlfriend to fly back and forth across the country to meet each other every month. Have fun with it, you're only young once.

The second part of your trust, four million and seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, will be accessible once you get engaged. I know that normally these things say that you have to get married in order to access it, but in this case, I would like you to access it when you become engaged so that you can use some of this money to pay for the wedding. I don't know if I'll live long enough to see you in person at the end of the aisle, watching your beautiful bride walking down, but I'd like to somehow be a part of it, even if it's just as the person who paid for all the flowers. I'd just like to be there somehow, someway.

I'd also like a portion to go into a college fund for your children. I would have set one up for them myself, but I didn't want it to seem like I was overstepping my boundaries. All I want is for you to inspire them to study what they wish, wherever they wish. Money should never be an issue as to whether one can follow their dreams.

If I know you at all, you're probably in shock at everything I've told you, but please forgive me, I'm not quite done yet. Take a break and come back to this letter, if you wish. The contents aren't going anywhere, after all.

You're probably aware that your grandmother and I own properties all over the country. Before your grandmother passed away, I found her looking at a new high-rise apartment complex that was being built in the heart of Philadelphia, near to The University of Philadelphia. I asked her why she would be looking at such a place when we were perfectly content here, but she simply replied that it was for you. I distinctly remember hearing her describe a dream she had where you were offered a position as a professor at the university, and she was firmly convinced that she had seen your future.

Your grandmother passed away two weeks after the paperwork was sent in to purchase the apartment. After she passed, even though I was skeptical of her 'vision', I couldn't bring myself to back out. So, I'm leaving you the apartment we purchased for you. It is in your name, and when construction is fully completed in 2018, they will contact you with instructions on how to move in. I'm hoping by this time, you'll be engaged, so consider it an engagement present from your grandmother.

Finally, and I promise this is the last thing, I'm leaving this house in your name as well. As much as your grandmother tried, we were never able to make it feel like a home, it was always just a house. A place to sleep in and store items.

Ezra, I'd like for you and your future family to make this house into a home. I'm hoping that you and your wife and kids will live in this house, and you'll watch movies together in the living room once a week, you'll make dinner together every night and eat in the kitchen, your kids will have their artwork hung all over the walls, and they'll each have their own room, decorated specifically to match their personalities. I want you and your family to make this house feel lived in, make it feel happy and warm. Everything it wasn't when your grandmother and I lived here.

I know that as you're reading this, you're likely to be too young to be thinking about marriage and kids, let alone what you're going to do after graduation, but just remember to keep breathing, keep moving. Everything will fall into place, you just have to keep moving towards it. Don't stop moving forward. I hope everything I've left you will help you to keep moving forward towards achieving your dreams; that it'll help you to live a much fuller life, one filled with love. It's the only way I could think of to say sorry for the fact that I was never in your life. I hope that one day you can accept my apology and forgive me.

One last thing, don't let her get away. You may not know it yet, but your grandmother was firmly convinced that you and the Montgomery girl you've brought to the parties here are soulmates. I told her that you're far too young to be thinking about things like that, but I feel that by the time you read this letter, you'll be old enough to understand, you'll be old enough to think about things like this. We see the way you look at Aria, Ezra- she's the one for you. Fight for her, fight for your relationship. Don't let her go, she's going to be the girl who helps you turn this house into your perfect home.

Love,  
Your Grandfather

* * *

"Our friends knew, our parents knew, even my grandparents somehow knew. I can't let you go. Not now, not ever. You're it for me."

Aria didn't even have time to get her words out before Ezra took a step forward, pausing momentarily to gauge her reaction, before closing the space between them, the letter dropping somewhere on the floor.

"Ezra, wait," she stopped, pushing him away, attempting to catch her breath. "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep asking you what I am to you, only for you to say you want to be with me, then back out weeks later. I need a solid answer now: are we together or not?"

"We're together."

"If we're together, that means we're together. None of that 'we're on a break' crap."

"We're together," Ezra affirmed once more, taking her hands in his.

Aria bit her bottom lip, shifting her gaze away from him. "I'm scared," she whispered honestly.

"'It's good to be scared, it means you still have something to lose,'" he quoted.

She stifled a laugh, "Nice Grey's Anatomy quote."

"I thought you'd appreciate it," he replied with a chuckle.

"So, you're going to San Francisco, I'm going to stay at Hollis, and we're going to be apart for three years? How are we going to make this work?"

"Aria," he soothed, sitting on his heels at the edge of her bed, still holding her hands in his, "you read the letter, my grandparents left me money so that we can travel across the country whenever we want to spend time together. They told me to fight for you, I'm fighting for you. For us. We'll make this work somehow."

"Yes, but-"

"No buts," he interrupted, "We can worry about everything else later. For now, let's just spend whatever time we have left together together. Let's work on this relationship so that when the time comes, we know we'll be able to survive these next three years. I'm all in, if you are."

Aria said nothing, and Ezra held his breath, terrified to hear her answer. No matter what her answer would be, he'd always have to at least be fine with the fact that he tried.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'm in," Aria said before Ezra captured her lips with his once more. No other words were needed.

* * *

**A/N: Please don't hate me. I know a lot of you hoped they wouldn't do long distance, but you have to remember, it's quite a common occurrence in relationships, especially in college and afterwards. And what would an Aria and Ezra story from me be without a struggle of some sort?  
That being said, there's only one more chapter to go after this one, and then the epilogue! You'll be traveling through time at warp speed in the next chapter. So, as a warning, seeing as I'm going to attempt to cover three years time in one chapter, please understand if it takes a while (again) before I update. Trust me, though, it'll be worth it.  
That being said, it's a pretty high bar, but I'm hoping I can break the 200 review mark by the time I end this story. There's still a while to go before I do, but I'm hoping you guys can get me there. It always amazes me to hear your guys' thoughts on my chapters, so please keep reviewing! It's your reviews that push me to keep writing.  
- J**


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